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| We Don't Need No Men Indian women are traveling on their own, and very happily so by Mridu Khullar If it's not female-friendly, Indian women are no longer going. Travel agencies, hotels, resorts and airlines would be ill-advised not to take note: Even as foreign goods were showing up in India's stories, religious groups were bemoaning the loss of India's culture, and morality groups were out vandalizing Valentine's Day celebrations, a quiet force of women were venturing out of their homes, their villages, their cities, even their country-- alone. Two decades ago, the average Indian woman didn't travel solo. She was always accompanied by a father, a brother, a cousin, a son. Or, a husband, of course. But with travel, the traveler changed, too. Just a generation ago, foreign travel was considered expensive and exotic. today, exotic is right here-- the small villages of Rajasthan, the backwaters of Kerala. Flying abroad is no longer a luxury for the super rich. It's a rite of passage for the urban middle-class. Families and couples are scuba diving, bungee jumping, river rafting and mountain biking. So too are single women. But while the travel and the traveler have evolved, the travel industry has not. A lone female is, for the most part, still regarded with suspicion, her moves and her motives constantly under scrutiny. Traveling alone on an assignment to Surat a couple of years ago, I hopped off the train and headed to the nearest small hotel to find a room to stay. The train journey had been long-- and sweaty-- and I couldn't wait to throw my bags on the bed and sleep. Hotel after hotel, I was told that there were no rooms available, despite it not being the tourist season, and I could actually see rooms open and empty, with the staff having nothing better to do than stare at this strange creature who had walked in. "People don't usually give out rooms to single women here," a budget hotel owner finally confessed, after I'd almost given up, having been rejected by five other similar budget hotels, and threatened him with media publicity. He acquiesced, but not before telling me that it was only because he didn't want to be sparred in the newspapers the next day. The joys of journalism, the perils of womanhood. "Why would a woman come alone?" he asked, very seriously. "Either she's going to bring a man, or she's looking for a place to commit suicide." "Work?" I muttered. "To see a new place? Get to know the country? Experience new things?" He just stared. My judgmental hotel owner isn't alone. Almost every woman who's undertaken a train journey-- in company or alone-- has a story to share about some random guy grabbing her while she was sleeping. (Tip: the upper berth is safer.) Clearly, it's not just the "pub-going loose women" who get attacked. Where are the moral police, or any police, when you need them? But small-town India isn't the only one with a problem. Cities, too, can generally be unsafe for women. And caution to the global traveler-- when I approached a travel agency to facilitate a visa to France, the first question was, "Are you married?" After being frisked three times while flying from New Delhi to San Francisco, the journalist in me had finally had it. As part of an assignment two months later, I met a security official at the San Francisco International Airport and asked him straight out: "Why do they always frisk me? Do I look criminal? Oh, it's my skin color, isn't it?" "No, no," the officer hastily explained, not willing to appear racist. "It's not your skin color. It's because you're a single woman traveling alone. Single women are typically marked out for checking." But despite these challenges, the number of solo female travelers has been increasing. Women are heading out into the world in larger numbers, suntan lotion in one hand, book in the other. No men necessary. Recent surveys by Abacus International, an Asian travel service firm, have suggested that over 40 percent of Asian women had traveled alone in the last year, as compared to 37 percent of men. Sixty percent of these women were single. In this country, a woman traveling solo is as much about challenging confinement as it is a statement of personal liberation. And even while the industry has been awkwardly slow to catch up on this trend, small independent organizations and clubs have recognized a need, and decided to meet it. One such club is Women on Wanderlust (WOW). Conceived and run by travel writer Sumitra Senapaty, the club has organized all-women trips around the world, including to South Africa, Greece, Turkey and Bhutan, as well as across the length and breadth of India. A perfect idea: Get a group of women who can't-- or won't-- travel in the company of their families or husbands, organize trips that are inexpensive but good, and set off to explore. Senapaty would know-- she's an adventurous traveler who has often left behind home and hearth to explore the unknown, knowing exactly what problems being a solo female traveler entails. In 2005, she coordinated the club's first trip to Ladakh. Twenty-four strangers arrived at the Bangalore airport: all dressed in pink, a way of recognizing each other. Women on Wanderlust had arrived. Since then, Senapaty has been responsible for trips taken by over 1,000 women. Feeling like old friends, the women are able to navigate their way through India's unfriendly hotel staff who can't but help ask the inevitable questions about marital status, and find solace and solidarity in the group. She plans the trips by taking care of the details herself, and organizes the women into groups of 15 to 20. Young 20-somethings find themselves traveling with experienced 60-year-olds. Globetrotters get to teach the ways of the world to the newly independent, and everyone looks out for one another. For now, this is as close as it comes in terms of safety and security for the female traveler. But projects like this will continue to push the idea that women are becoming a big market for the tourism sector, and companies had better start paying attention. |
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