Sunday 17 February 2013

Fight Back, Labour and Protect Women from Sexual Violence




Since the Indian economy is growing at an average growth of 6-8 percent per year, more and more women are now easily found work in various government and private offices. But its impact has also made women workers vulnerable to sexual crimes that are now spread in many big cities in the country. To reduce that risk, there has recently been launched a new technology initiative which aims to protect women against sexual violence. Applications that utilize the phone was named fight back. One of the workers who have made use of the application is Cheena Sikka, a modern and professional woman. Cheena is the typical hardworking person who comes home after work late at night. The taxi is a favorite means of transportation. Along the way home, Cheena faced no problem. However, concerns arise in the 5 to 10 minutes as she walked alone to reach the door. "It's dark and a lot of people are around me. You cannot feel safe with strangers. I was not too comfortable walking alone," said Sikka.
To address that risk, Cheena finally installed fight back on her smartphone. Before the taxi started moving, Cheena begin activating the application through GPS location tracking. "When you feel uncomfortable, you really do not need to do anything other than just a push of a button," said Jagdish Mitra, CEO Canvasm Technologies, a vendor that developed Fight Back. When the user presses the panic button, users have a few seconds to cancel the decision. If he does not, a particular location contains a warning sent out by text message, email, and on Facebook, where all your friends and family that have been entered into the list, immediately get the information in real time. Data from the user is compiled into an interactive map. Mitra said the company continues updating the digital map, but the map does not function as a center for public monitoring.
Making Cities Safer
Applications like fight back help a little more to reduce the risk of sexual violence against women which tends to increase in India. Many people judge, poorly lit roads even without light, scattered across many major cities in India, including the capital New Delhi to be a trigger of violence against women. Official data released in 2010 showed the national statistics bureau, there have been over 400 sexual assaults in major cities of India, especially in New Delhi. A large number of cases reported, has led organizations and mass media dubbed India New Delhi with the label as the "Rape Capital '.
"This application has an important role to help and protect women," says Kalpana Viswanath, a researcher Jagori, a women's advocacy organization in India. Jagori is keen to encourage officials and city managers to focus on the development of various city facilities safer for women. His research includes a recommendation to better lighting, wider sidewalks, zoning wiser - and what he described as a "holistic" in designing a better life and safe city for women. Makers fight back said senior police officials in Delhi and other Indian cities have expressed interest in the application. They plan to establish a formal partnership to the systems they build. The process of approval and implementation will be done in the next few months.


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