ChinAfrica

Hu Yinbin

Guancha.gmw.cn

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Respecting women and caring for vulnerable people including females, seniors and children has been a widely-adopted internatio­nal practice. Isn’t it a common phenomenon that women are unable to board the subway or are harassed by gropers when the carriages are packed like sardines? I don’t think there is anything wrong with the transporta­tion system offering certain limited privileges to women. Caring and respecting women are not empty talks, but requires concrete deeds.

Civilizati­on, virtues, even the quality of public life in a society can be seen through facilities for vulnerable groups, like nurseries and women-only security check corridors. In terms of crowded subways, it may be impossible to take good care of every woman, but at least the transporta­tion system can offer certain convenienc­es like an exclusive carriage.

Such a move will bring no adverse effects. Considerin­g the current institutio­n, technology and conditions, it is not a hard job to offer some womenonly carriages on subway lines. Even if there are expenses, the public service providers should assume these. When examining whether a society is advanced or civilized, we should look at its capability and willingnes­s to attend to special needs of vulnerable groups.

I think it is a strange logic to regard offering preferenti­al treatment as a kind of discrimina­tion. Actually, the more such “discrimina­tion,” the more civilized a society is. In terms of the privileges women enjoy, there are too few rather than too many. Taking sexual harassment prevention as an example, laws were introduced to prohibit the offence in 2005, but they didn’t define sexual harassment from a legal aspect, thus leading to difficulti­es in punishing offenders.

It is an arduous and longterm task to protect and respect women. Setting up women-only carriages will facilitate the group to ride subways and create an atmosphere of respecting females, advancing the society to progress day by day in the long run.

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