Of all the....!!!!

An article in the newspaper yesterday caught my eye. The Delhi government has decided to move all male teachers employed in MCD schools, from the morning shift to the afternoon shift. Apparently the morning shift has a majority of female students, while the afternoon shift consists primarily of male students. Keeping in mind the current security concerns of women in Delhi, it was felt that girl students would be more comfortable dealing with female teachers. Interesting.

Now, I do remember being in school and having male as well as female teachers. Not once did the gender of the person concerned become an issue - we were more concerned about how they taught us, what sort of support we received from them, how they dealt with discipline issues, how much free time they gave us to go do our extra-curricular stuff, and so on.

However it seems that life has become more complicated since then. There have recently been a couple of cases where male teachers have mentally and physically abused their female students. So in a knee-jerk reaction, the Government in all its wisdom has decided on a Taliban-like ban on male teachers in morning shifts. Great. I’m sure the girls feel much safer now. Now if only the Government would also find a way to segregate the roads, the public transport, cinema halls, maybe even have separate shopping times for men and women…after all eve teasing happens anywhere and everywhere right?? Why just stop at schools. Why not have segregated hospitals and clinics, with women doctors for females and male doctors for the men. The possibilities are endless.

Of all the simplistic solutions being offered to deal with the problem of eve-teasing and sexual abuse, this has got to take the cake. Instead of strengthening the law and order situation and enacting tougher laws which would make anyone think twice before harassing a girl, they go and tar all male teachers with one brush. I wonder what the affected teachers think of this. Will they speak up against it, or accept the new rule quietly and in a way condone the twisted thinking behind the move?

Come to think of it, this is the same kind of “logic” that has made a number of colleges ban their female students from wearing skirts and jeans. I guess women who wear salwar kameez or saris never get harassed or raped or anything.

As a young working woman in this horribly unsafe city of Delhi, I know what if feels like to be followed, ogled at, harassed, be the butt of remarks….I don’t think any woman would seriously believe that segregation can be a solution to this. What we need is a change of attitude among the men, with respect to women. And we need better laws and stricter enforcement. And a supportive police force that cares and shows that it cares.

Don’t try to create unnaturally “safe” environments for us. Let us live in the real world as human beings, and let us do it with our dignity intact! Is anybody listening???