Women, (railway) class and the state: an analysis of two controversies surrounding women-only metro carriages (Cairo – São Paulo)

Abstract

This article examines the debate surrounding women-only metro carriages as a response to issues of sexual harassment in public transport through two case studies, Cairo and São Paulo. The controversies surrounding this decision, and the decision itself to implement the service, reveal relations that are not just tied to sexual issues. An analysis of the cases shows that, behind sexual issues lie issues of class. Whereas examples from the early 20th century (such as the historic cases of New York and Tokyo) show that women-only subway carriages were introduced as a means of social distinction, a century later it is working-class women who ask for this service, which they link to other non-mixed spaces for women who are victims of violence. Analysis of these cases highlight the fact that controversies and decision-making processes play out in other ‘fields of power’: which include at the level of operational implementation, and at the level of the state. Across these different fields of power, questions and values lead us astray from the only question that, from a feminist perspective, should influence the decision to introduce women-only metro carriages: does this measure favour mobility or not, and thus women’s emancipation?

Keywords:

• Continuum of sexual violence
• controversy analysis
• gender segregation
• public transport
• sexual harassment
• women-only

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all of the people who helped me carry out this research, and who granted me an interview in São Paolo and Cairo, as well as Christina Samir and Ahmed El Metwally for interpreting them, and Silvana Ghali for translating articles from Arabic to French.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a grant from the Ladyss Laboratory (Laboratoire Dynamiques Sociales et Recomposition des Espaces [Social Dynamics and Spatial Recomposition Laboratory]), a grant from Paris 8 University (the Quality Research Bursary), and by the Brazilian state as part of a cooperation program between ESALQ-USP (Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz” – Universidade de São Paulo) and Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis

Notes on contributors

Marion Tillous

Marion Tillous is a lecturer at Paris 8 University (Vincennes Saint-Denis), now associated with the LEGS Laboratory (Laboratoire d’Etudes de Genre et de Sexualité [Gender and Sexuality Studies Laboratory]).