Back in 2010, when the Delhi Metro extended its routes to cover many more parts of the city, things began to look as good as they get. A city with a good public transit system–one that is safe, clean, accessible–is what they call a ‘world-class’ city.

Soon after, Delhi Metro introduced an all-women’s coach. There had seemed to be a need for it.

As someone who has lived in Delhi all along, I recognise how indispensable and alluring the idea of an all-women’s coach is. When that exclusive coach was installed, it’s all I ever used when taking the train.

Seemed like a great idea at the time, but here’s why it’s not.

When you introduce an all-women’s coach, you make it increasingly difficult for anyone identifying as a woman to commute in the general coach. You demarcate gender identities more distinctly than ever before.

You subtly convey the message that women’s safety, security and privacy are dependent on their own choices, and by choosing to commute in the general coach, they are taking a ‘risk’, thereby absolving everyone else of any blame.

It also seems to suggest, subliminally, that women are safe among other women. This is, of course, the finest instance of benevolent sexism. I have witnessed several times women in the Metro haranguing complete strangers on their choice of clothes, recreation, the company they keep, and whatnot.
At best, they stare at you mercilessly, silently rebuking you for being the way you are. There’s hardly any freedom where there is expected to be.

The women’s coach, then, becomes akin to the home, providing the illusion of safety, but that’s about it.

When done right, a city’s public transit system is its lifeline, the great leveller of social disparity, the enabler of employability, the facilitator of freedom.

While the all-women’s coach enabled many women to commute freely and acceptably for the first time, thereby allowing them a safe space outside of the home, it also crippled us in many ways.

What’s your experience of the Delhi Metro?