vedanti singhal: week 6

Public Spaces and Everyday Lives: Gendered Encounters in the Metro City of Kolkata

Tanusree Paul

‘Spaces’ has been generally associated with either having masculine or feminine attributes. It is gendered in ways that reflect social organisations like the difference between man and woman then understanding it in binary terms like inside and outside or public and private. 

In 1989 Habermas posited that democratic states need such public spaces to bring people together for communication to take place. The question raised is who can use these public spheres and for what purpose as this further helps in forming government policies. 

Women were excluded from public places, which is an example of inequality and an indication of patriarchal dominance. Expansion of space, can, therefore, be seen as an issue of women empowerment. Public places for women are considered as “transit ways to other regions, not loci of interest in themselves; laws against loitering, lolling, and vagrancy exist in part to ensure that public places remain way stations, not goals.” Whereas for men it is a platform where ideas, values, and leisure activities are enjoyed. Women negotiating for public places is mostly considered with an appreciation of ‘body idiom’. Feminine sexuality has been portrayed as one which needs to be “tamed” by keeping them protected from the outdoor. Many religious and moral injunctions have been keeping women away from public places. Women’s confinement is legitimised by justifying that the reproductive role of women, sexuality and physical vulnerability are responsible behaviour of women. Here the author talks about femininity not only in terms of masculinity but a distinction is drawn between proper and improper femininity. 

From the survey, many things were derived. It can be noticed that women, either mobile or stationary, were significantly less likely to be viewed to occupy public places during the evening or at night. The stereotypes were deeply internalised in the response. Cafeteria emerges as a somewhat feminine space as a sophisticated enclosure provides a kind of purdah for the users protecting them from the public gaze. Whereas garage, liquor/lottery shops and truck parking are considered strictly masculine areas. It was derived that the notion that working women have the freedom and greater mobility is a myth. The marital status of a woman also plays a significant role in utilisation and access to public spaces. Unmarried women are generally ‘allowed’ to be more independent and access public spaces as compared to a married woman.