Indonesia launched its first women-only train carriage on the Jakarta public transportation system today. The goal of the women-only carriages is to minimize sexual harassment of women on trains. Several more carriages will enter into service soon.
The carriages, with bright pink seats, have only been introduced on the express Jakarta-Bogor line, but more will be introduced if the experiment proves successful, according to the BBC.
“We want to improve our service and protect female passengers so they feel more safe,” rail official Makmur Syaheran said, according to Agence France Presse. The single-sex carriages are optional and women can still use other carriages if they choose.
“Even if men and women are separated in public transportation, as long as men do not respect women as humans and women still feel inferior to men, making them afraid to shout out or report harassment, the separation will be useless,” a criminology professor at the University of Indonesia, Purnianti, told the Jakarta Post.
India introduced similar women-only commuter trains to combat sexual harassment in 2009.
