Re: [Marxism] CSM: Mexico City's newest bus option: 'Ladies Only'

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following is a comment from The Nation about the buses for women in
Mexico.

I tend to agree with Walter on this, with reservations.  My main concern is
not segregation. I agree, as in the case of the national question (although
this is not a national question), that the central issue is not separation
or integration but rights, women's ability to take control of their lives.

One concern I have is that women who cannot or do not take the women's buses
could be regarded as having accepted the likelihood of being sexually
harassed. "We offered you the women's bus, but you didn't take it.  So you
knew what you were getting into."

But of course, the main function of the bus lines in Mexico as far as women
are concerned, is to get women to work ON TIME, and get them back to their
child-rearing duties at the end of the day. Or do we want to live in the
fantasy that the mass of working women in Mexico are free agents, pursuing
"careers" and leading lives of glorious intellectual-sexual freedom off the
job? 

So, first of all, women have little or no choice about which bus they take.
It is all a matter of timing. I will bet that the class composition of the
women on the women's buses will be LESS working class than those on the what
may regarded as the "men's" buses. So will men on the "men's buses" be
expected to act, as a matter of course,like scum, that being their supposed
"nature." I was going to write "act like pigs," when I reminded myself how
much I love pigs (not Porky Pig but huge bulls and sows -- I always disliked
calling cops "pigs," because I think pigs are great-- and politically
corrected myself.

Mexican working women do not have a free choice about which bus they take.
Timing is all. And, in addition, the decision to take the bus that comes
first cannot be taken as a decision to accept the risk of sexual harassment,
which must be unconditionally forbidden and (to the extent practically
possible) suppressed.

But this change is most likely progressive in the concrete situation.
Fred Feldman



www.thenation.com

BLOG | Posted 01/28/2008 @ 11:39pm 
Segregating Women to "Save" Them  
Jessica Valenti 
 
 
  
Last week Mexico City unveiled women-only buses as a way to battle the
increasing sexual harassment on public transportation. 


Some men treat women so badly that the subway system has long had
ladies-only cars during rush hour, with police segregating the sexes on the
platforms. 

But that hasn't helped women forced to rely on packed buses, by far the
city's most-used form of public transportation -- until this week. 

Acting on complaints from women's groups, the city rolled out "ladies only"
buses, complete with pink signs in the windshields to wave off the men.

Pink signs, huh? I'm all for safe spaces for women, but is segregation
really an answer to sexism? I've written about this trend of women-only
spaces before, most recently for The Guardian, and I still fail to see how
this is anything but a temporary solution to a systemic problem. 


There's no doubt the harassment women face in public spaces needs to be
addressed - whether it is on the street, the train, or even the internet.
We've been subjected to regular catcalls and groping for far too long. But
while the idea of a safe space is compelling, this international trend -
which often comes couched in paternalistic rhetoric about "protecting" women
- raises questions of just how equal the sexes are if women's safety relies
on us being separated. After all, shouldn't we be targeting the gropers and
harassers? The onus should be on men to stop harassing women, not on women
to escape them. 

Betsy Eudey, director of gender studies at California State University, says
that while some single-sex environments could be beneficial - locker rooms
where people are expected to be naked are an obvious example - she finds
that "segregated spaces only enhance division by sex, and prevent the
necessary actions needed to make public spaces safe and welcoming to all".


The Nation's own Katha Pollitt, in an interview for this article, said that
she doesn't think that the rise of women-only spaces will excuse society
from confronting harassment and violence, but instead offer a small respite
for women in a male-dominated world. 

"Obviously, there would never be enough women-only space to accommodate all
women all the time - half the subway cars or half the hotels.Women-only
space is just a little breathing place for a few women every now and then." 

I'm pro-breathing space, but I have larger concerns as well. What happens
when a woman is groped - or worse - in a train car that isn't women-only?
Will she be blamed for not taking advantage of the "safe" space provided?
(After all, women are all too used to being blamed when it comes to assault,
questioned as to why they were out on their own/wearing a short
skirt/drinking.) 

If we're going to make women safe, let's make them safe everywhere - note
just in designated areas. 



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