Ethnographic studies reveal that women traveling in jam-packed Mumbai local trains not only learn in their own way of using the train but also teach others, like their children, how to navigate the local train system. This highlights how teaching mobility and teaching gender go hand-in-hand.
Author
Arundhati, Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India
Summary
The local trains of Mumbai, known for their excessive crowding and cramped conditions, are a popular public transport system due to the vast spread of the network and cheap pricing.
These trains are also used extensively by women due to the provision of exclusive segregated ladies’ compartments. However, women still need to negotiate with crowds, and push and jostle as they struggle to board and deboard trains.
Through an ethnographic study of women’s experiences of travelling by trains, I examine how women learn to be mobile and teach others, such as their children, to navigate the local train system. Analysing women’s narratives of how they learnt to use trains, I find that teaching mobility and teaching gender go hand-in-hand, as women simultaneously internalise codes of appropriate femininity to protect themselves from physical and sexual harm, but also subvert mainstream femininities, as they embark on their everyday train journeys.
Published in: Taylor & Francis
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