Sejal Choudhary Week 6

Why Loiter? Radical Possibilities for gendered dissent.

Shilpa Phadke, Shikpa Ranade and Sameera Khan in the article - ‘Why loiter? Radical possibilities for gendered dissent’, talk about women and how they are deprived of basic human rights such as safety in public spaces while on the other hand the males of their society have the “privilege” of loitering. The authors here by using the term “loiter” try to touch on why it is important to recognise women’s right to wander and enjoy public spaces equally as men do because these public spaces have always been seen as an exclusive rights only for male over the years.

The authors in this article have based their observation on Mumbai and the way that the concept of “loitering” have been associated with women there. No doubt, the city has evolved and modernized over the years but general and basic activities like wandering on streets and using public transport are still considered as “unsafe” for women. The issue that the authors try to focus on is that - people from every corner of the globe are raising their voices against violence against women and gender biasness in our society but no where are people talking about how women are being deprived of rights to enjoy basic daily activities like “loitering” or using public transportation without looking at it like a threat. To sum up, this article tries to talk about how it is important to recognise that women deserve equal rights as men on a daily basis.