The movement is being spearheaded by the Bharatiya Stri Shakti, a 28-year-old Mumbai-based voluntary women’s organisation, which has branches in eight states across India.
A Special Economic Zone for women, a mandatory safety audit, affordable housing for single women, crèches and transport facilities for working women, loos at domestic and public places and efficient grievance mechanism are among the wish-list of women activists for “Smart Cities” in India.
As the Centre is set to spend Rs40,000 cr to make 20 cities in India “smart cities” and has released a list of 98 cities spread across 24 states to be developed as smart cities in the next few years, women activists have initiated a campaign for “Gender-Smart Cities”.
Bharatiya Stri Shakti, a 28-year-old Mumbai-based voluntary women’s organisation, which has branches in eight states across India, including Delhi, is spearheading the movement seeking greater space for women in the proposed smart cities. National Commission for Women (NCW) has extended its support to the move.
“Where does the women population stand in smart cities? What will be their role and participation? Are smart cities considering women’s needs,” asks Medha Somaiya, adjunct professor of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai who is also associated with Bharatiya Stree Shakti.
Each Smart City would get a Central assistance of Rs 100 crore per year for five years. These cities will be developed to ensure basic infrastructure through assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation. But there is no clarity on gender budget, says Prof Somaiya.
Women leaders say engaging women in the planning and design of these cities will go a long way in addressing their needs such as removing gender gap in education, employment, wages, property rights, elimination of violence against women. This is in alignment of UN Women’s Safe Cities Global Initiative as well.
BSS is consulting NGOs of 20 cities and is set to hold a national-level seminar in Delhi next month to build consensus and generate enough pressure on the government to include these aspects while planning the smart cities.
“We are holding meetings with representatives of all 20 cities to identify the needs of women, prioritise them and suggest the solutions for effective implementation. This is to ensure participation of women in decision making and implementation of Smart City projects. A seminar in Delhi is proposed in Nov,” says Nayana Sahastrabuddhe, Chief Manager of Bank of Maharashtra, also a BSS member.
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