"Debate Revived on Women's Access to Public Space at Night"
Trip-chaining
women's pattern of combining multiple short trips (school, clinic, market, work) in one journey.
Respectability and purpose test
the unwritten expectation that a woman must justify her outdoor presence.
The Constitution promises formal equality to women through Article 14 (equality before law), Article 15(3) (special provisions for women and children) and Article 21 (life and personal liberty, read by courts to include dignity and bodily autonomy). This promise has not translated into equal freedom to use public space after dark. As more women move into cities for work and education, the gap between legal equality and everyday mobility has become sharper.
The 2012 Delhi gang rape was a turning point in India's response to sexual violence. It led to the Justice J S Verma Committee, which located the problem in patriarchal structures and state failure rather than individual deviance. Its recommendations shaped the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, which widened the definition of sexual offences and created fast-track courts. Most restrictions on women's movement, however, are not written in law at all. They survive as hostel curfews, family rules and informal policing by neighbours, defended as protection rather than control.
Urban planners describe women's daily movement as 'trip-chaining': short, linked journeys between home, school, clinic, market and workplace, instead of a single commute. This travel pattern needs safe footpaths, working streetlights on connecting lanes, not just main roads, and clean public toilets. When these are missing, a full day outdoors becomes physically harder for women than for men, quite apart from any threat of violence.
Feminist scholars call this an unwritten 'respectability and purpose' test. A woman must justify why she is out, especially after dark, and her explanation must meet social approval. A man's presence in public needs no such justification. Moral policing, hostel curfews and family-imposed timings are different versions of the same test. They read a woman's mere presence outdoors as suspicious, rather than as an ordinary right. …
'Women's movement in India has not addressed the issues of women of lower social strata.' Substantiate your view.
Match List-I (Constitutional Article) with List-II (Provision) and select the correct answer using the codes given below:
List-I
A.Article 14
B.Article 15(3)
C.Article 21
List-II
1.Right to life and personal liberty
2.Equality before law
3.Special provisions for women and children
Consider the following statements regarding the Justice J S Verma Committee:
1.It was constituted following the 2012 Delhi gang rape case.
2.Its recommendations led to the enactment of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
With reference to women's safety initiatives mentioned in recent public discourse, consider the following statements:
1.Delhi's 'pink ticket' scheme provides free bus travel for women on DTC and cluster buses.
2.Safetipin is a government-run toll-free helpline for reporting crimes against women.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
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