The women's rights movement has really gained momentum again in the past few years and progress has been made in getting the world to listen to issues that women face every day. With that said, there is still a long way to go, and the following story shows the measures that women feel need to be taken to feel safe. Air India has started booking female-only seats on its planes in order to comfort women travelling alone.
The national carrier will soon reserve six seats in the front rows of its fleet for women passengers without any extra charges.
“We will soon reserve two rows (or six seats) for women passengers only,” Air India chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani told The Hindu.
This is the first time this measure has been taken in the world, though in other modes of transport in India, like trains, metros and buses there are reserved areas for women.
“We will be reserving the third row — six seats — in the economy class of the aircraft for female passengers travelling alone,” said Air India general manager-revenue management Meenakshi Malik.
“We feel, as national carriers, it is our responsibility to enhance comfort level to female passengers. There are a lot of female passengers who travel alone with us and we will be blocking a few seats for them.”
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There may be a particular incident behind the female-only seats - last month a man reportedly groped a female passenger on-board a Mumbai-Newark flight when she was asleep. Appalling.
Former Air India executive director Jitendra Bhargava told The Hindu: “Planes are not unsafe for women passengers. In case of unruly behaviour, the airline crew are authorised to take action as per the law".
It's definitely an interesting debate and one many feel strongly for or against. Either way, the fact we live in a society where this is deemed necessary is the saddest part.
