Female-only buses tried in China to fight harassment
Many Asian women report problems on public transportation
Over 50% of women report inappropriate touching, survey says.
A female-only bus service aimed at protecting women from sexual harassment has launched in China, drawing praise and criticism.
The Zhengzhou 3rd bus company introduced the service on a popular route in the central city of Zhengzhou. It will run during busy commuting hours until early August.
“During the summer, women usually wear thinner clothes, making it easier for them to be harassed in crowded buses. ... The all-female service will increase their convenience and safety,” said Kong Chaoping, the firm’s chairman, according to the Beij
ing Youth Daily newspaper. The buses are recognizable by their big red signs that read, “Female-only.” Stuffed animals and other kids’ toys are suspended from the ceiling.
Sexual harassment is a common yet largely ignored problem on China’s public transportation system. More than 50% of women have experienced inappropriate touching or body contact on trains and buses, a survey by the
China Youth Daily newspaper found last year.
In 2014, the Women’s Federation of Guangzhou, a state-affiliated group, found that 85% of all sexual assaults in Guangzhou, a city in southern China, occurred while victims used the city’s public transportation network.
Chinese media were mostly positive about the new service.
“The female-only bus makes our eyes light up. First, it protects women, especially younger ones who would prefer to wear less, shorts or backless dresses in the summer. Second, it makes it easier for pregnant and nursing mothers to travel,” said the Peo
ple’s Daily newspaper. Several feminists who tried to raise awareness about the topic were detained by authorities for a month last year.
“The issue of sexual harassment is getting serious in China. But 90% of women choose not to respond or fight back, which makes the problem even more serious,” says Chinese feminist Xiao Meili, who speaks out about domestic violence. “(These buses are) representative of the stereotyping of women. In the bus company’s mind, women should be pink and love fluffy toys.” Some women are fighting back. Last week, a young woman riding the metro in the southern city of Nanjing discovered a man taking photographs up her skirt with a camera hidden in a bag. She confronted him and told him to delete the images. He ran off. Afterward, she posted a video of him on social media.
Women throughout Asia face similar problems. Tokyo’s metro system has had women-only car- riages for more than a decade, and India’s railway network introduced them for commuter trains in 2009.
The bus company promised that men won’t suffer as a result of the new service because each female-only bus will be followed by one that both sexes can board.
Some in China expressed unease over the move.
“The female-only bus is insulting because it treats every man like a pervert,” said a male user of China’s Twitter-like service Sina Weibo who goes by the name Daxic.
“What about the women who catch the mixed bus now? Doesn’t this make that more dangerous?” asked Ziyandanquan, a female user of Sina Weibo.
Others took issue with the focus on women’s clothing, questioning the logic of running the buses only in the summer. Two years ago, the Beijing metro caused outrage when it told women not to wear hot pants or miniskirts if they wanted to avoid being harassed.
“To avoid being the target of inappropriate picture-taking, (women) should shelter their bodies with bags, magazines and newspapers,” Beijing police said.
“The female-only bus is insulting because it treats every man like a pervert.” Daxic, a male user of a Twitter-like service in China called Sina Weibo