Gender-based spatial segregation: ladies' compartments in the Mumbai local trains

The local trains of Mumbai are one of the most crowded means of public transport, but often preferred by many women due to the provision of exclusive ladies' compartments reserved for women. While these compartments provide women a space safe from sexual assault, conflicts due to class and religious differences arise among the women who occupy this in-between space. Moreover, the continuous use of ladies' compartments leads to the labelling of general compartment as gents, affects the interactions between men and women in different railway spaces, and also configures the public as already segregated according to a binary understanding of gender. Based on the findings from an ethnographic study of women's experiences of using the ladies' compartments, I argue that the provision of segregation gives rise to specific 'mobility practices' in the ladies' compartments. The logic of segregation spills over to other railway spaces, and these can complicate our understanding of mobility as empowering for women travellers.