When I saw the Rose Cafe “Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill”, I was particularly curious to see how gender can affect commuting to places or even what was this talk actually on. To say the least, I was very surprised and really happy I went to this lecture. Seema started to talk about the problems of streets in developing countries where there are a lot of people. I’ve been to Bangladesh several times and, if it’s anything like India, the streets are packed with people. During the day time, on major roads, there are large traffic jams due to the sheer amount of pedi-cabs. Pick-pockets make quite a bit of money from the crowds.

What I found interesting was the interventions created by the Indian government to start a safe commute for women in India through reserved rail cars and pink rickshaws. The discussion of these solutions was the best part of the Rose Cafe.  Many thought this was a naive solution because it pacifies the officials. However, with research and people speaking out about their sexual harassment stories, the broken, unsafe transport system has to change, whether that be tomorrow or in the next 5 years. The problematic aspect of this situation is the actual power given to the men who participate in these types of behavior. In order to fix an institutional problem, we have to start education on how to treat women and many groups have started small little schools. Perhaps the reserved rail car will increase from 1 out of 8 to 2 out of 8 or have a decreed safe space, but, this idea will be a fix until society is ready for women of different cultures to fully integrate into the working world. We cannot expect a world wide societal problem to be fixed within a span of days. However, we have to look for ways to help women until we can patch our society.