Iran: Women only
There are many myths & lies about Iran you can come across in the Western media. One of them is the harsh suppression of women. Segregation of women on transport may look like of one of the forms of this suppression.
When I was going to Iran I thought that women are required to travel separately on public transport. I was expecting that we will have to sit separately. But when we took our first bus I was a bit surprised to see that couples were sitting together. In Tabriz we took a bus ride separately: me in male part, Mara in female. In Tehran you see more signs “Women Only” everywhere on the public transport. This doesn’t mean that women can’t travel with their husband/father/brother on the other cars, primarily designated for males but can be also mixed.
In the metro, several cars are dedicated to “Women only” at the head and tail of each train. This is meant to be a privilege, not suppression at all. We got to understand this while travelling during rush hours, as we got to experience the ” you gotta fight…for your ride” battle. The are are people trying to get in and people and trying to get out of the metro cars, at the same time…ironically. And with this…the battle starts…who pushes harder. However this mostly happens, on the cars which are male/mixed. Once you are in..probably you will be sticking your face to some other male’s chest or back or nose…or whatever. It is not the most pleasant thing…so my advice for Mara was : next time…go to the “women only” !
So the central part of the platform is occupied by men and also couples (women and men), and at both ends of it will be only women. Very often the male/mixed cars are extremely packed and during these times, men will invade the “women only” sections. We kind of took advantage of our “tourist” status, therefore I was accompanying Mara in the “women only” cars… we can’t travel separately, can we ? :)
These are the doors that separate the “women only” and “male/mixed” cars.
Generally, riding the metro in Tehran is good quality and definitely the fastest way of transferring from one side of the city to another. To point out, women are being protected and privileged from the whole craziness of Tehran rush hour as well as some sexually deprived individuals.
More to come on this topic in our next posts.
Until then…Greetings from Tehran !
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About the Author: Alex
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Oh so they have the same metro system at rush hours like they have in Kiev? :)
by Clabbe on October 6, 2012 at 10:32 pm.
Almost, just in Kiev women have no escape from smelly men ;-)
by Alex on October 7, 2012 at 7:36 am.
Same in Malaysia now in the KTM trains. The middle car is the “ladies’ coach”:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HD5NJAAIMfE/S9gQHbcXlPI/AAAAAAAAAZI/fUtjedICAmY/s1600/women-only-coach2.jpg
The reason for this implementation?
1. Statistics showed that 60% of KTM Komuter passengers were women;
2. Provide more comfort and security to women; and
3. Protect them from sexual harassment, jostling with male passengers, groping and catcalling.
Named Ladies Only At All Times, the coach is located in the middle among the three coaches of every commuter train. The coaches at the front and back are for all sexes.
by Tobi on October 7, 2012 at 8:07 am.
I totally understand them. Mara was using the advantage of women’s cars during rush hours, and I had to be with other men ;-)
by Alex on October 9, 2012 at 10:41 am.
If u would do the same in Prague, then everybody would be in the females vagoon :)
by yalin on October 7, 2012 at 1:42 pm.
Hahah, here they have people who don’t let men enter cars for women.
by Alex on October 9, 2012 at 10:40 am.
Very true about both Iran and Malaysia ! I have experienced both and never had any question about this segregation ,seeing the crowd !
Thanks for the share.
Samira
by Samira on October 10, 2012 at 3:19 am.
Yes, Samira, and I totally agree to this. I just disagree with sexual deprivation of young men and women (by religions), who cannot have sex before marriage. It traumatizes them, and breeds perverts. Would be better if religions of the world reconsider this.
by Alex on October 10, 2012 at 5:59 am.
wow, interesting article.
by bert on October 20, 2012 at 2:55 pm.
Thank you, Bert.
by Alex on October 20, 2012 at 6:11 pm.
Same organisation for the New Delhi subway.
But Iran and Northern India have much more things in common. Lot of words in Hindi derived from persian, like the figures:
ek / yek, do / do, teen / se, chahar / chahar, panj / panj… and some numbers sau / sad for 100, hazar / hezar for 1000.
But the iranian cheese (paneer) is largely better than the indian cheese (paneer also, but no comparison, at least for a French tatste ;-)
Fabrice
by FabGreg on November 18, 2012 at 9:02 pm.
Thank you, Fabrice. I did not know that Hindi is similar. Regarding cheese, yes I understand the French taste. We are in South East Asia, and cheese is one of the things we really miss here.
by Alex on November 25, 2012 at 3:51 am.
thanks for your honesty , it means a lot
by an iranian on April 12, 2013 at 2:14 pm.
Thank you for your comment, I am happy you appreciate our honesty :)
by Mara on April 13, 2013 at 3:58 pm.