Hmm, wouldn't it be a better idea to segregate the assaulters from society instead?
Hands up who’s had their arse grabbed on a tube by a stranger. You have? Yeah. Me too.
Is it a common occurrence for women in the UK? Thankfully not as much as in areas including India, Japan, Mexico or Brazil (who have all already got women’s only train carriages) but it does happen.
Does that make it a normal thing? Hell no.
Touching anyone when they don’t want to be is a crime. And it happening even once is one time too many.
With Labour consulting about women-only train carriages to ‘combat the rise in sexual offences on public transport’ (which FYI, have doubled in the past five years), the question should actually be ‘why do women need a safe space?’ We can’t normalise this behaviour.
Personally, I think having women’s only train carriages is like telling women to cover up to avoid being raped. You can’t simply cover up the issue, you need to actually change behaviour and segregate those who do the assaulting – rather than the victims.
We haven’t had women’s only train carriages in the UK since the 1840s (albeit, there was still the rare train with them in 1977) so it’s great to see how progressive we’re being as a nation.
Now, this isn’t to say that I’m against it as a short-term solution as I know women in India, for example, have benefited hugely from the segregation – but that’s all it is, a quick fix.
Children need to be educated in equality around the world so that when they’re adults, instances of daily sexism are the exception, not the norm.
Walthamstow Labour MP Stella Creasy tweeted: ‘Can we make all carriages safe for all passengers rather than restricting where we can go?’ and I couldn’t agree more.
And, women on Twitter are voicing their opinions too, with most swaying towards it being a bad idea, too…
why not women only entire trains, ban men from trains until they behave https://t.co/dmzyJkJgot
— Mollie Goodfellow (@hansmollman) August 23, 2017
Because God forbid we should tackle men's responsibility to stop harassing and attacking women. https://t.co/z3f4WY3Xcl
— Sophie Walker (@SophieRunning) August 22, 2017
We don't need to be segregated on trains, we need to be believed: @jessphillips on women only train carriages https://t.co/RQVd9oGzUe
— Heather Saul (@heatheranne9) August 23, 2017
✔️ Women-only hotels
✔️ Women-only gyms
✔️ Women-only bars
✔️ Women-only beaches
✔️ Women-only trains
✔️ Women-only sidewalks— REAL PAIN (@HAUTEVIOLENCE) July 27, 2017
If there are women only carriages on trains, then will a woman be blamed if she's not in that carriage and is assaulted?
— Robbie (@VXXIVX) August 23, 2017
Also men should be incredibly annoyed by suggestion they can't control themselves. Sexual violence isn't about urges it's about power
— Jess Phillips (@jessphillips) August 22, 2017
But, seeing that one in four British people (apparently) think that women-only carriages are a good idea, we hope this debate at least opens up further conversation into why we’re even toying with this idea in the first place.
