While riding Istanbul’s various forms of public transit (bus, light rail, subway, etc.), I noticed a disparity in male and female usage. On all forms of public transit, the riders tended to be predominantly male.
This could be a result of needs influenced by job differences, accessibility, personal comfort or other factors. However, in light of the recent violence on Turksih public transit, the attempted rape and murder of Özgecan Aslan, I paid attention to the modes of travel utilized by the women I saw and the patterns exhibited, such as time of travel, religious or secular identification and solo versus group travelers. For example, I saw viewer women on public transit, or out at all, later in the day. Also, while I saw many identifiably religious women using all of the public transportation, there were definitely more secular women present.
On March 5th, we met with transportation officials from Istanbul Ulaşim. They explained the ownership of Istanbul’s public transit as well as future goals for its development. While the company gave optimistic and extensive goals for the transit lines’ future development, they seemed to lack in viable or noticeable considerations specifically for female passengers. When questioned about the existence of plans for accommodations specifically for women, religious or secular, the official questioned did not seem to prioritize women passengers’ needs a highly salient considerations for future goals. While he did cite possible accommodations, such as a gender-specific cars or taxis with female drivers, the solutions seemed to be spur of the moment brainstorming rather than definite future plans. Regardless, these suggestions still brought up relevant problems with accommodations specifically for gender or religious purposes. Would women-only subway cars provide better protection from violence or would they further perpetuate the social divide currently facilitating such violence?