Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Women only train carriages? really????

253 replies

TheoriginalLEM · 26/08/2015 10:40

So, i quite liked Jeremy Corbyn as a runner for opposition leadership. Down to earth, gritty etc...

Then he has the idea of women only train carriages to avoid sexual harrassment? What next? Women not allowed in pubs in case we have our sensitivities hurt hearing the odd F word?

Its a brilliant idea, why waste all our energies on trying to change attitudes, just keep the poor loves in their own safe little carriages. Will they be painted pink with little make up mirrors on the back of the seats?

Don't stop there - we can abolish sexual harrasment in the workplace by having women only offices. Of course certain jobs have a predominantly male workforce so women are going to have to step down from those career choices and stick to something more feminine instead....

Foot. Shot. Self. himself!

OP posts:
MrsGentlyBenevolent · 26/08/2015 18:41

And I wouldn't want any older male children in there with their mums either

Are you serious?? Can I ask, at what point does a little boy cross a line for you, into possible sexual predator? Especially considering you used the phrase 'male children'. Should all boys now be locked away from society for our own safety, from a young age Hmm.

OneDayWhenIGrowUp · 26/08/2015 18:56

I'd be really interested to know who the "some women" are that suggested this to Corbyn? Has that been reported anywhere?

KittyLane1 · 26/08/2015 19:09

The children line was mainly a joke because I don't really like other people's children...

Personally I would love an over 20s, women's only, quiet carriage, with wine.

In seriousness though, i would feel the same way as I feel about ladies toilets or ladies changing areas, I wouldn't want older male children in there. I didn't put an age beside it because, I don't know, I'm not making a law here, it's just my personal feelings.i work with teenage boys and the stuff they come out with and their sexist views at a young age are depressing. I can imagine it being a laugh to them to be in the women's carriage, taking sneaky pics and snap chatting mates.
Phones are banned at our school, partly due to pictures of female staff being put on FB etc and rated by "hotness", sexual or sexist comments ("saggy tits, needs a shag, let's gangbang her) etc

Just personal view based on RL experience.

KittyLane1 · 26/08/2015 19:11

I mean, come on, some women can't even have an apple on the train without being photographed, uploaded and humiliated.

Women Eating on The Tube I believe it is called

Twinklestein · 26/08/2015 19:20

Ludicrous idea.

a)Men will simply wait for you to get off to start hassling you.

b)Why should women change their behaviour to 'protect' themselves. Why can't men just stop being dicks? Or thinking with them to be precise.

triathlon · 26/08/2015 19:53

I'm against the idea. Women have the right to be safe in all spaces.

wafflyversatile · 26/08/2015 20:00

I've heard the idea before,fairly recently, but no idea where it came from.

Yops · 26/08/2015 20:31

Are people who think this is a bad idea for or against the cab companies where you can request a female driver for female passengers? Some taxi companies employ only women, and will only take women passengers. Is this equally as bad as train carriages?

LightningOnlyStrikesOnce · 26/08/2015 20:36

I think the police sexual harassment phone line staffed by women idea is brilliant. I've always said we'll only make real headway in getting sexual crime treated seriously when the police, people in charge of courts and anyone elseinvolved are women.

I am a bit saddened by the couple of posters saying that we need men around to protect us on public transport in case of attack. That will only encourage stereotypes as well. We need other people for help and support, and if there are enough women around we can do that job just as well as men. If not better. It's a question of numbers only, not that we really need male protection when shit hits the fan.

MultiShirker · 26/08/2015 20:51

The utterly obvious solution is a MEN ONLY Carriage.

Require all unaccompanied males to travel in a segregated carriage and see how they like it. Only one on each train. Give women the freedom of public space men take for granted.

And have men squashed in one segregated space. See how they like it.

LightningOnlyStrikesOnce · 26/08/2015 20:53

Shirker, now there's an idea... I like it...

OTheHugeManatee · 26/08/2015 21:04

Yops the reason for hiring a female taxi driver is that as a single woman alone in a car with a man you are quite vulnerable. There have been cases of taxi drivers taking women off and assaulting them.

I hardly think the driver of the 07:57 to St Pancras could divert the train at Stevenage so as to have his wicked way with a whole carriageful of women. The two aren't comparable.

RedEllen · 26/08/2015 21:11

I've heard the idea before,fairly recently, but no idea where it came from.

maybe this
Funnily enough, I don't remember a great furore over it.

lorelei9 · 26/08/2015 21:18

Shirker, when you say "unaccompanied men" you mean men who don't have a woman to chaperone them? I'm guessing you would put "men accompanied by other men" in a men only carriage too?

Yops · 26/08/2015 21:25

I think it is comparable though. You are optimising the safety of a female passenger by removing men from the immediate vicinity.

I am not against this idea re the taxis. And so I am therefore struggling to see why this is acceptable, and yet segregated train carriages are not. I can understand someone objecting to both, or neither.

However, Shirker's idea is probably the best solution.

MultiShirker · 26/08/2015 21:25

Oh yes, "unaccompanied men" are men with other men, or alone ie without a woman with them.

Let's imagine a world where the "normal" conditions in which women live in terms of freedom (or not) to move about public space are applied to men. Let's tell men that:
*they should be careful of talking to strangers
*they should never walk alone in the dark

  • they should dress modestly
  • they should not attract attention in public
  • they should respond politely and smile when anyone tells them "Cheer up mate"
  • they should enjoy being groped
  • they should laugh at jokes which demean their sex

See how they like it ...

IKnowIAmButWhatAreYou · 26/08/2015 23:25

Interesting point raised above with regards to being viewed "being up for it" if you don't sit in a women only carriage....

Remember we're talking about the lowest common denominator intellect wise and it's not beyond belief that this is how they'd see it.

Couple that with a senile judge "so Ms X, rather than sit in a designated women only carriage, you decided to sit opposite the defendant despite it being late at night....."

suzannefollowmyvan · 26/08/2015 23:49

The utterly obvious solution is a MEN ONLY Carriage

oh yes, and in countries where women wear burkas and what have you lets have the men wearing hoods and blinkers so that they cant look at the women.

all men indoors after nightfall so that women can feel safe after dark

MultiShirker · 27/08/2015 00:35

Love it, Suzanne

wafflyversatile · 27/08/2015 00:46

Interesting point raised above with regards to being viewed "being up for it" if you don't sit in a women only carriage....

And the victim blaming. 'But there was a women's only carriage. Why didn't she sit in there?'

sashh · 27/08/2015 07:09

They have women only train carriages in India. Is that really somewhere whose gender politics we want to emulate?

Also Japan and Australia.

As I understand it he has said he will seriously consider it because he has been asked about it.

It's a long time since I was in Sydney but I seem to remember the women's carriages were only at night and the area they stopped on the platform was marked out so in effect created a 'woman only' space on the platform too.

I'm torn between this, is it on all trains or just some? Is it all times of day or night? Long distance or just local / underground?

I've been travelling on the Midland Metro recently (the tram from Wolverhampton to Brum and back) and it 'feels safe' - I know feelings and reality are different but the new trams you can see the entire length, there is a video showing various bits and pieces but including messages about staff and passengers being allowed to work/travel without intimidation.

There is also a conductor.

goblinhat · 27/08/2015 07:12

.i work with teenage boys and the stuff they come out with and their sexist views at a young age are depressing

I find your view of teenage boys depressing.

IKnowIAmButWhatAreYou · 27/08/2015 07:51

i work with teenage boys and the stuff they come out with and their sexist views at a young age are depressing.

That's interesting, I volunteer with teenagers & I'm constantly amazed at how they're much more aware and enlightened compared to when I was growing up...

goblinhat · 27/08/2015 07:54

IKnowIAmButWhatAreYou

Exactly.

I know lots of teenagers ( all the friends of my own kids) and they are brilliant. I hear them standing up for a couple of gay kids in their year, horrified when my mother ( in her 80s) used the N word.
I think many teenagers are very switched on and sensitive to others.

KittyLane1 · 27/08/2015 07:56

I find it depressing as well goblin I find it depressing that when asked to hand in a piece of work a student will ask me to "suck his cock" instead.

Il can I just ask, people who find my views depressing, what do you think about the examples I have given? Because it's not like I'm talking out my arse, I work this job everyday and see this behaviour everyday.