#LoginGender invites you to participate at its inaugural Online Discussion Forum on ‘Creative Dialogues on Engendering Educational Spaces‘.
4 June 2019. 10 am -8 pm at www.logingender.wiscomp.org
The Online Discussion Forum seeks to initiate public conversations on themes of SAFETY, INCLUSION, GENDERED INFRASTRUCTURE, ENABLING SPACES, MOBILITY, and AGENCY from an INTERSECTIONAL LENS to unravel the many facets of a #SafetyAuditwithin educational space, especially HEIs.
To participate, drop an email at wiscompweb@gmail.com or leave your contact details below as comments and we will follow up with you.
Looking forward to connect with you on the 4th June!
The access one affords to public spaces is undeniably affected by their gender. Another access that becomes implicit here is one’s sexual identity, especially when performed in a conspicuous manner. For a better part of my life, I wasn’t perceptive to this blatant fact that has always served to restrict my movement. It was only after I began my undergraduate studies that I came to realise how this fact manifests itself in our daily lives. The transformation that comes with the shift from school to college, for me, meant increased usage of the various means to public transport. While in some cases, this was and remains a source of empowerment, – stemming from the assurance that I do not have to rely on anybody else to facilitate or monitor my movement – it also encumbered me in ways that were hitherto overlooked. An indictment of this liberation presented itself when one morning, I walked out of my room in a knee-length dress and my mother promptly reminded me that I should change, considering that I would be taking the metro to college. And as problematic as this statement appears against the backdrop of the ideological towers I constructed in my head, it did not occur to me to argue with her. In fact, that little remark seemed to be the perfect summation of the reality we find ourselves in – one in which the constant and prevailing threat of unwanted attention, inappropriate gazes and ultimately, of sexual violence.
The question of access to public spaces cannot be considered without situating it against the gender axis. This becomes clear when one attempts to first, look at the vast array of precautions and actions that women have appropriated in their daily lives as strategies, essential simply to survive. Seemingly absurd, these are commonplace and not in any sense unwarranted. While women are continually attempting to reclaim spaces, they are doing so with utmost caution – ranging from pepper spray, SOS apps, and deftly place swiss knives to a constant sense of anxiety manifesting itself as eyes constantly peering over the shoulder, putting only one ear bud of the earphones in, walking faster in case of an approaching vehicle, among others. The second step would be to ask as to why are these ‘survival strategies’ endemic solely to the experiences of women. From my personal experiences, the answer lies in the realisation that women have become attuned, understandably so, to constantly imagining scenarios where their safety might be compromised and further, to seeing them come alive on a daily basis.
SolusVM