NEW DELHI — Women in India's capital are taking self-defense classes, snapping up pepper sprays, booking cabs with female drivers or leaving work early, all signs of growing insecurity following the brutal gang rape and murder of a student last month. In response to the public outrage, authorities have initiated several measures to instill confidence, but many women say they cannot rely on India's often gender-insensitive and under-resourced police force to ensure their security. “It's no secret that Delhi is unsafe for women. A lot of us have known it for a long time, but this case has brought things to light,” said Sunanda Jalote, 18, a psychology student, attending her first self-defense class with Invictus Survival Sciences in South Delhi. “It really has hit the confidence of women in the city. We don't want to feel like that. We want to be able to go out wherever we want, at any time of day or night, and feel safe. So you have to learn how to defend yourself.” Private companies running self-defense classes in the capital say they have had a flurry of requests since the Dec. 16 attack. “Since the incident happened, the number of inquiries and enrolments has shot up considerably ... by about 40 percent,” said Ankur Sharma, senior instructor at Invictus, adding that most are from female students or professional women between the ages of 18 and 35 years. Sharma added that many business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, especially those that employ women working late shifts, have been booking week-long self-defense workshops for their employees. A survey conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) earlier this month found that 80 percent of women working in Delhi's BPO/IT sectors were leaving work earlier than usual, affecting work productivity. This is reinforced by the surge in bookings of taxi operator “Sakha Cab Services”, a women-only taxi service with female drivers, which says the number of cab bookings has increased by 35 percent over the last month. For those who cannot afford private taxis or self-defense classes, pepper spray has been the answer. Grocery stores, chemists and even cosmetic shops in Delhi's centrally located Connaught Place say the brightly colored spray cans have been flying off shelves since the gang rape, selling up to five times more than usual. — Reuters
