‘How safe is Chennai for women?’

The Women’s Collective, an NGO working on issues of women rights in Tamil Nadu, urged the Chennai Corporation to conduct a comprehensive audit on how safe Chennai was for women, during a walkathon here on Monday. More than 300 students from city colleges participated in the event, which was a part of a  fortnightly campaign for violence against women.

Speaking to City Express, president of the collective, Sheelu, said that there had been a perceptible increase in the number of cases of violence against women in Chennai over the last decade.

This was evident from the number of calls the collective got for counselling during the said period. There was also a marked change in the nature of violence, with sexual abuse in schools increasing manifold, she added.

“We counsel a lot of students who come up with the issue of harassment in schools. This is something we need to look into seriously,” she said. 

The audit should map Chennai on the basis of how secure the different areas were to women. The reasons why some areas were less secure should be identified and remedial measures adopted, the organisers  said.

Sheelu also said that the NGO was now concentrating on taking the message to students and helping them identify the “good and bad touch,” even if it was from relatives or teachers.

The walkathon, which began from the Labour Statue on the Marina Beach, concluded near the Gandhi Statue. The students who participated have also been asked to call up Chennai Corporation Mayor, Saidai S Duraisamy to urge the civic body for the audit.