Defence and defiance from Indian women
Women’s safety is under the spotlight in India after last month's brutal attack on a student in New Delhi, who was gang-raped, tortured and later died, unleashing a wave of protests. Reuters photographer Mansi Thapliyal went to find out how young women were now protecting themselves in and around the capital and found many answers – from 19-year-old Aanchal Sukhija, pictured here, who messages her father each time she uses a rickshaw, to others who learn karate or even carry a gun.
Twenty-three-year-old Shaswati Roy Chaoudhary brandishes a bottle of pepper spray given to her by a male friend. She explained that she felt threatened by recent events and she carries the spray as a first step towards self defence. "I can never relax on the roads once out of the house," she said.
Sheetal, 23, who works at a night call centre, said she has started carrying a small knife to protect herself.
But Sheetal says that the thing that really needs to change: “is not my working hours or my clothes but the mentality of the men in this city".
Simrat, a 24 year old who works for a non-profit arts organisation, travels in a rickshaw in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi. "I made the decision to use public transport as my primary way of moving through the city because I really believe that it is my right to be able to use public space, just as much as it is of any man", she said.
Simrat rides in the women's metro compartment. "Not using the metro or an auto or a bus or a cycle rickshaw (because it might not be a safe thing to do) is not an option in my mind because if I stop myself from living my life in ways that are most convenient to me, I'm giving in to fear and ceding my independence. I use the metro because it’s the most convenient travel option for me and I will continue to do so," she said.
Twenty-three-year-old Ishita Matharu, who works for a multinational company, drives her car to take a class in Krav Maga, an Israeli self defence technique.
Ishita has been taking Krav Maga classes for over four years."I am not scared to travel alone by myself at night. After learning Krav Maga I am more confident to step out of my house late in the evening," she said.
Baishali Chetia, a 30-year-old freelance visual artist, has also been learning Krav Maga for the last year, and travels home on the bus after attending a class.
Baishali says: "For a woman, to learn how to fight and defend herself from any kind of physical assault... is the best way to break away from the shackles of gender stereotypes which say that women can't protect themselves and therefore they shouldn't step out of their house late in the evening without being escorted by a male member of the family or a male friend".
Twenty-four-year-old Deepshikha Bharadwaj, who works for an advertising agency, poses inside her office elevator holding a notice reading: “Sorry I am not staying late now”. She posted the message on her desk to send a message to colleagues.
Richa Singh, a 24 year old who works for an online travel portal, poses next to a mannequin at a market in New Delhi. She says: "Women are seen as objects in this city, it doesn't matter what I wear, I still get stared at by men on the streets."
Nalini Bharatwaj, the 37-year-old chairman of a management institute, holds a gun while posing in her office. "Half of the time I am alone with my children and sometimes I have to travel late at night from work. It is enough to shut up anyone trying to molest me or even pass a comment if I flaunt my gun", she said.
A salesgirl applies lipstick inside a shop selling bottles of pepper spray, put on display next to make up and toiletries. "We sell five to six bottles a day and demand is usually among 18 to 25-year-old women", she said.
A woman waits at a bus stop in New Delhi, where more rapes are recorded each year than in any other city in India. According to a survey conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, many women in and around the city fear taking public transport after sunset.
Chandani, 22, works as a cab driver for an organisation that says it provides safe and secure cab services for women driven by women. "I am doing a very unconventional job for women,” she said. “Given that I do night shifts, I carry pepper spray… and I'm trained in self defence. Initially I faced a lot of problems but driving cabs at night has helped me to overcome my fears".
Story
Women take up self-defense and pepper spray after India rape
Women in India's capital are taking self-defence classes, snapping up pepper sprays, booking cabs with female drivers or leaving work early, all signs of growing insecurity following the brutal gang rape and murder of a student last month.
The assault on the 23-year-old - who was raped by six people and tortured with an iron bar on a bus, then left bleeding on a highway - stunned the nation and generated an unprecedented wave of protests calling for better security for women.
In response to the public outrage, authorities have initiated several measures to instil confidence, but many women say they cannot rely on India's often gender-insensitive and under-resourced police force to ensure their security.
"It's no secret that Delhi is unsafe for women. A lot of us have known it for a long time, but this case has brought things to light," said Sunanda Jalote, 18, a psychology student, attending her first self-defence class with Invictus Survival Sciences in South Delhi.
"It really has hit the confidence of women in the city. We don't want to feel like that. We want to be able to go out wherever we want, at any time of day or night, and feel safe. So you have to learn how to defend yourself."
New Delhi, with a burgeoning population of 16 million, has the unsavoury reputation of being the country's "rape capital", recording more rapes annually than any other Indian city.
There were 706 rapes reported in 2012, a 23 percent rise from the previous year, according to the Delhi police, while molestation cases rose by 11 percent to 727.
FEMALE CAB DRIVERS, PEPPER SPRAY
Private companies running self-defence classes in the capital say they have had a flurry of requests since the December 16 attack.
"Since the incident happened, the number of inquiries and enrolments has shot up considerably ... by about 40 percent," said Ankur Sharma, senior instructor at Invictus, adding that most are from female students or professional women between the ages of 18 and 35 years.
Sharma added that many business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, especially those that employ women working late shifts, have been booking week-long self-defence workshops for their employees.
A survey conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) earlier this month found that 80 percent of women working in Delhi's BPO/IT sectors were leaving work earlier than usual, affecting work productivity.
The poll, which questioned 2,500 women in the capital and its environs, said most women feared taking public transport such as buses, auto-rickshaws or the subway after sunset.
This is reinforced by the surge in bookings of taxi operator "Sakha Cab Services", a women-only taxi service with female drivers, which says the number of cab bookings has increased by 35 percent over the last month.
For those who cannot afford private taxis or self-defence classes, pepper spray has been the answer.
Grocery stores, chemists and even cosmetic shops in Delhi's centrally located Connaught Place say the brightly coloured spray cans have been flying off shelves since the gang rape, selling up to five times more than usual.
Authorities in Delhi have announced a raft of measures to help women feel safer on the city's streets.
These include a 24-hour helpline for women in distress, instructions to all BPOs to ensure female employees return home from work safely, more policing on the streets and a crackdown on drunk driving.
But women like student Sunanda Jalote remain unconvinced.
"Women have to learn to defend themselves," she said in between learning how to kick her partner in the crotch at a self-defence class. "We don't want to have to wear a burkha in order to go out and feel safe."
