Corpn’s gender lab to track women safety projects

According to Chennai Corporation sources, the lab would be set up using assistance from the World Bank, which is in talks with the State government to implement the Chennai City Partnership initiative. “The gender lab will mainly concentrate on integrating the implementation of safe city project under the Nirbhaya Fund initially. The lab will help in adopting additional initiatives. The World Bank will help the Chennai Corporation to set up the lab by providing capacity-building support,” an official said.

Under the safe city project, which is being implemented using Nirbhaya Fund, the Chennai Corporation, along with the State Transport department and Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) is implementing as many as 13 initiatives to address the safety concerns of women in transport and public space.

Gender lab would develop tools for seeking citizen feedback on women safety in the city. The lab will also conduct a women safety audit to track the safe mobility of women in MTC to improve planning and implementation for enhanced safety. “It will work on creating indicators for measuring gender outcomes and to improve women’s perception of safety in buses and public spaces,” the official added.

Apart from the civic body, transport department and MTC, the gender lab would also include city police, Social Welfare department, State Commission for women, and the State Committee for the protection of child rights and other state-run institutions. According to 2019 National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data, though the city recorded fewer cases than other metro cities, there has been a slight increase in the number of cases between 2017 (642) and 2019 (729). A study conducted by AWARE in Chennai found that more than 50 per cent of women interviewed had faced some form of harassment while travelling on public transport.