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A majority of 65 per cent of women in Delhi interviewed said they felt insecure working in night shifts, while the figure was the least for Mumbai at 26 per cent, according to a survey by industry chamber Assocham.
The study comes nearly 10 days after, Soumya Vishwanathan, a scribe working with a television news channel, was murdered while driving home from office in the wee hours of September 30. Police investigating the case have so far drawn a blank in the case.
Bangalore is the second most unsafe place for working women with 56 per cent of those polled expressing a sense of insecurity, the survey said. In Hyderabad and Chennai as many as 35 per cent and 28 per cent respectively shared similar feelings, it added.
The survey covered women working in companies engaged in business process outsourcing, IT firms, airlines, hospitals and media. It said the safety concern related to the movement outside their office premises and most of the women expect their employers to make security arrangements.
The chamber has suggested strong measures to improve security for women, especially those who move at night.
“Government should make it mandatory installation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in cabs used not only by BPOs but also other industries employing women at night shifts,” Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.
Female employees in the small scale sector are more vulnerable to security risks than their peers in bigger units, the survey said. As much as 48 per cent of them in small firms were found “extremely worried” while the number was smaller at 23 per cent for those employed in big companies.
It also showed that women employees are the most vulnerable and prone to both physical and non-physical attacks.
Due to inadequate transport arrangements by employers, 86 per cent of women face commuting problems at night. In Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune, women face the maximum commuting problems compared with those in Delhi, Hyderabad and Ludhiana who face the least, the chamber said.
“The companies should ensure security of their women employees,” it said.
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Delhi at the best of times is unsafe for women. This has to do with the psychology of the men - that women are easy prey. This is because of bad upbringing of male children in north by the parents especially the indulgent mothers.
Delhi most unsafe for women so the men there are the most vicious type with most atrocious behaviour. It is a shame for the Delhi men. Okay, not all men go after molesting women then Delhi must be host for the most criminals in the country. The criminals, politicians and the police have a nexus, it is said. So all it requires to make Delhi safe for women is to break the nexus. There can be a fourth element also that contributes to Delhi being unsafe for women - the women herself. Either the Delhi women are very much naive or they are super confident of themselves that they are more than equal to men so they can handle any situation. Renuka Chowdary and Ranjana Kumari, the two women activists should go themselves on the crime prone areas without security and then advise other women that they can do anything just as men.