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Bao Lixia
Productive Landscape-Drive Approach as a Framework for Women’s Empowerment
India ranks high globally for abuse of women, a serious human rights’ violation. Even though the Indian government promulgated a series of regulations to protect women in 2001, discrimination and crime against women still widely exists in education, marriage, work, and sex, especially in public spaces. Discrimination against women in Indian society makes them afraid to go outdoors.
My landscape planning strategies make use of the existing community spaces to create safer community spaces for women. The productive landscape-drive approach is a framework for women empowerment by providing new employment opportunities for housewives, rebuilding social networks, as well as re-education opportunities.
The plan is to design venues with different functions around the main activity spaces of women. On the one hand, it proposes transforming 200+ currently vacant lots adjacent to houses into productive land for housewives. On the other hand, it involves transforming more than 20 vacant lots along the street into women-only places for social contact, consulting, and re-education. Replicating this framework on an urban scale and implementing it as a women’s rights strategy could have a significant positive impact on women’s rights as well as promoting gender equity in India as a whole.
Four Safe Space Principles for Women
The safe space should be located in an area that is conveniently accessible to women and girls. Near places woman go frequently such as the market, temple, and school.
Women/girl-only / dominant space
Evidence suggests that the establishment of women- and/or girl-only spaces help to reduce risks and prevent further harm during acute emergency responses And, if the space cannot garantee women- and/ or girl-only, at least it is a women-led space.
The space should have a privacy fence or wall to ensure privacy and safety. Girl/woman groups should be visible, but avoid to being visible to men as much as possible.
Create a sense of ownership, rather than perceiving it run by an external group. Services should correspond to their life cycle as well as provide woman / girls-target facilities.
The whole productive pocket gardens are going to cover over 1,000 households, which accounts for more than 60% of households.
Yelahanka is going to be divided into 7 parts according to women's market locations and 3 minute walking maps, which means the products within one 3 minute distance can be collected in one market for selling together.
Make the main women's re-education and consulting center available for every woman within 5 minutes walking distance from their homes.
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Women