What is the new launch from the Chennai Corporation that is making amazing news?
Posted on: 02/Apr/2022 9:26:50 AM
The Chennai Corporation has added one more feather to its cap now by this latest launch!!
A gender lab has been launched by the corporation and this gender lab is said to be the first ever initiative taken by any urban local body in India. By this, safety of women would be improved from the changes in the infrastructure that would be suggested by this new gender lab.
To launch the facility, GCC has appointed 3 specialists in the first phase. These 3 specialists (all women) would review every civic infrastructure project and they would suggest changes to improve safety of women in the public places. On Friday, 1st April 2022, this new gender lab was launched in the Ripon Buildings by the newly elected Chennai Mayor Priya. Other important personalities who were present during the launch were GCC Commissioner Mr. Gagandeep Singh Bedi and Commissioner of Police Mr. Shankar Jiwal etc.
It must be taken into note that the gender lab was launched with the help of assistance from the World Bank. Mr. Gagndeep Singh spoke about how Chennai was the first city in entire India to have a gender and policy lab. He threw light on how despite the presence of 50% of women in the society importance is not being given to them while planning infrastructures and services etc. He listed out various projects that would be implemented for women in Chennai. Point is that toilets especially for women gender would be built at a cost of Rs 33 crores. An amount of Rs 69 crores would be used to improve the street lights in Chennai.
In the first phase, the gender lab would study various aspects in the zones belonging to Tondiarpet and Thiru VI Ka Nagar etc. The residents in these zones would be given importance by the specialists and their suggestions would be taken. While planning new projects, their recommendations would be implemented. The Chennai Mayor spoke about how women’s role in urban planning has been ignored and their suggestions were not given importance.
According to an officer from GCC, urban planning and design do not take the diverse needs of men and women into account. He added that this has resulted in cities that do not address women’s specific requirements. It is important to note that women’s access to employment, education, healthcare and leisure gets limited due to barriers in public transport, lack of safety during travel and social norms etc. It was later mentioned by some officers that Chennai needs gender responsive urban mobility and public spaces for the sake of equal distribution of economic growth.
In 2017, a study was conducted by World Bank and as per the study it was confirmed that a majority of women commuters who have responded belonged to the age group of 6 to 25 years and the majority of male commuters were in the working age groups of 26 to 45 years. It was brought out by 80% of women that they were at higher risk of getting harassed in crowded public transport.
