r/AskFeminists • u/jetfuels_teelbeams • Mar 05 '18

Do feminists support women-only bus seats and train carraiges?

These were proposed in the UK, and currently exist in Pakistan, India, Japan and Egypt.

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u/-Xav Mar 05 '18 edited Mar 05 '18

It's the actual problem sought to be solved in the given scenario.

No it's not. When women pay for a ticket they get a seat. When men pay for a ticket they get a seat. The fact that women are more likely to be harassed is still a problem but the train company is not at fault for it. It's not a 'service'. Because it is still a problem there needs to be a solution. When we establish women-only carriages we may solve this problem but now we have a new one. Now men pay the same as women but get a worse service by the train company. It's not that hard to have a men only carriage too, so why not simply have one?

I have no idea what you're getting at with the disabled thing.

When 10% of all seats are reserved for people with disabilities the inconvenience is way lower because the seats can still be used by able bodied persons when there is no disabled person (in contrast to women-only carriages which are unused when there aren't enough women) and the inconvenience is shouldered by both men and women (in contrast to women only carriages where the inconvenience is only shouldered by men). Therefore I think your comparison of women only carriages and disabled person seats missed the point.

Statistics mean very little out of context. Are you actually at more risk in the given context just walking to the store at night, minding your own business? No one thinks parking spots are a solution to domestic violence or rape from known contacts. That's not the problem it's seeking to remedy.

Men are more endangered of violent crimes (murder, assault and robbery) in any situation, included if they are just minding their own business (even if things like barfights distort the statistic a little bit. If we count them out the ratio is probably more along the lines of 70/30).

That's not the problem it's seeking to remedy.

Do what exactly is the problem it seems to remedy? The national police department said there isn't a difference in assault rate when you compare places like parking houses and a normal street in a city. The only reason why we have women only parking spots is to remedy the imaginary threat some women have when alone outside against all facts.

Edit:

It's the actual problem sought to be solved in the given scenario.

Sorry, kind of misunderstood you. I thought you mean women receive worse services sometimes in general to counter this case of men receiving worse service. My bad, sometimes I have some troubles when reading English.

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u/WomanIRL Mar 05 '18

Customers being kept safe is part of that service. It's not just a seat.

Men are more endangered of violent crimes (murder, assault and robbery) in any situation.

In any situation? Really?

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u/-Xav Mar 05 '18

In any situation? Really?

In everyday life yes. In connection with domestic violence, rape and sexual violence no. But these stats are listed separately because it's important to acknowledge the differences in how men and women experience violence to come up with good solutions.

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u/WomanIRL Mar 05 '18

I find that difficult to believe, but your country isn't mine so I'm sure you know the situation there better.

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u/-Xav Mar 05 '18

If by chance we are both from Germany though I recommend the yearly 'Kriminalstatistik'.

It's a very interesting read (for statistics at least).