Undercurrents #5: Gender lines
11.50am, 11 March 2015, Mumbai Chatrapati Shivaji Airport, Domestic Terminal 1B
I turn the corner and see a familiar scene of the airport security gates.
The border marking the division between airside and landside*.
But something is ever so subtly different from the airports I am used to.
Men straight ahead and to the left, women to the right.
I stand in the long line of women.
I get my laptop out of my bag, my 100ml liquids, unravel my scarf.
I’m waiting. I look around.
Sometimes when I’m bored I just count what I see.
Five blue boxes for the luggage lie ahead,
Six security people per security line,
Seven lines of men in front of the security gates,
Eight security gates all together,
One security gate for women.
end
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Cultural Undercurrents
What might this story tells us about the invisible forces at play in society?
· I don’t know if I am just being sensitive about this given all you hear about gender inequality in India. Or if it’s small everyday signals like airport security lines that are reinforcing gender inequality.
· A societal assumption that fewer women will travel across the country — so less need for female security gates? Or fewer women in ‘formal’ employment as security staff. I’m not sure if either of these hold up.
· With a long line of women at the airport — is that indicating a rise in the number of female domestic travellers across India?
· When I ask an Indian guy about it, he thought it was just an unfortunate oversight by the airport managing authority. He thought I should tweet to them and put it on their agenda as more organisations are responding via social media these days.
*Note: As someone who used to work in an airport I have a heightened interest and sense of the significance of the airport security border. In the airport worker community — landside workers are seen as inferior to those that cross the security gates everyday, the airside workers. I know, as I was once a landside airport worker.
