Gender & Space - Pukar - Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research, Mumbai

Large nodal stations:
• CST
• Churchgate

Medium size stations:
• Andheri

Small stations:
• Chembur
• Grant Road

At these stations we mapped people's movement, watched the places where women preferred to stand, and interviewed people at different times in the day. The stations were drawn and we also examined the availability of infrastructure like lighting, food stalls, toilets and women's use of them.

The effort in this exercise was to understand how a functional space like a railway station and train services contribute to enhancing women's access to public space. We perceive these to be spaces that women have to use and therefore spaces where the state institutions have a high degree of responsibility in ensuring that nobody is compelled to take risks they do not wish to.

Research - Ethnography
Ethnography has been conducted at specific public places in the city. We followed the ethnographic method, seeking thick descriptions where both we and our research assistants spent many days at one location watching people, talking to them and trying to understand the context of the space. We conducted ethnographies at railway stations, parks, malls and coffee-shops. Railway Stations: We studied large nodal stations, one medium size station and two small stations. The railway stations we studied in-depth were: Large nodal stations: • CST • Churchgate Medium size stations: • Andheri Small stations: • Chembur • Grant Road At these stations we mapped people's movement, watched the places where women preferred to stand, and interviewed people at different times in the day. The stations were drawn and we also examined the availability of infrastructure like lighting, food stalls, toilets and women's use of them. The effort in this exercise was to understand how a functional space like a railway station and train services contribute to enhancing women's access to public space. We perceive these to be spaces that women have to use and therefore spaces where the state institutions have a high degree of responsibility in ensuring that nobody is compelled to take risks they do not wish to.
Parks: The parks / maidans we studied were: For body language and movement: • Shivaji Park in Dadar • Joggers Park in Bandra West • City Park in Bandra-Kurla Complex • Diamond Garden in Chembur For design: • Oval maidan near Churchgate • Horniman Circle in South Mumbai • Shivaji Park in Dadar The effort in studying parks was to understand what makes for a truly public space. We focused on the design of these parks that enhanced or inhibited safety and access as well as on women's body language therein.
Shopping Malls: Ethnography was conducted at three malls: • High Street Phoenix at Parel in Central Mumbai where old mills are being converted; • R-Mall in Mulund, an eastern suburb with a large population of Hindu Gujaratis and where the prices of real estate have concomitantly risen; • Inorbit on the Malad Link Road, a space reflecting the new BPO culture mixed with its old predominantly Christian past. Coffee-Shops: The coffee-shops we studied were Baristas and Café Coffee Days in various parts of the city. The locations of these cafes were: • Carter Road, Bandra • Chowpatty • VT • Chembur • Shivaji Park The intention in studying malls and coffee shops was to examine the nature of space being offered to middle class women in order to understand how the axes of inclusion and exclusion operate to offer women once again conditional access not rights. The effort was to understand how a form of private space assumed the dimensions and contours of a public space and became offered as such. <<BACK