Women-Only Passenger Cars May Appear in Argentina’s Capital Subway

A controversial draft bill to create of special subway carriages exclusively for women was put forward in Buenos Aires in order to prevent sexual harassment by male passengers, an Argentine newspaper reports.

It is proposed to make some subway carriages women-only during rush hours on weekdays — from 7 am to 10 am and from 5 pm to 7 pm. At these times, most of the subway lines are overcrowded and the threat to women of attacks and harassment by men is much higher. The draft bill also considers that women travelling with young children would also benefit.

"Both men and women have the right to travel by public transport and to feel safe using it. We are constantly witnessing scenes of abuse and violence against women on public transport in Buenos Aires. As women, we know that this problem affects all of us equally and that any of us could be a victim at any time," said Deputy Graciela Ocana, author of the initiative, as quoted by Clarin newspaper. Ocaña also noted that the initiative has already been successfully implemented in other countries, significantly decreasing the number of cases of sexual harassment.

However, some women passengers interviewed by the media in the Buenos Aires metro spoke out against the law because it discriminates against male passengers, labelling all of them as potentially dangerous. An alternative opinion is that men should be "educated" rather than "isolated" and the number of police patrols on the subway lines should be increased.

Women-only passenger cars are available on some trains in Israel, Japan, India, Egypt, Iran, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. The earliest instance of women-only carriages dates back to 1912, when they were introduced during rush hour to separate male and female students in Japan. The so called "Flower Trains" service ended during World War II.