Kerala MLA’s Initiative Of Organising The “Girls Night Out” Campaign Is Welcomed, But It Has Made The Reality Of Girls Being Unsafe At Night More Obvious!
A very common conversation that happens between girls or friends living in different cities is how safe the city is at night. Do you go for night outs? Are you comfortable stepping out of your home after a “decent” time at night? Well, I am sure most of the cities have not convinced us to say “yes” to this question which is a harsh and sad reality for all the girls in our country. The fact that we do not feel safe to go out at night and roam freely in our own country is shameful. But in Kerala, a very good initiative was taken to promote the idea of “Girl’s Night Out”. While this sound really nice, this campaign also makes my previous point clear that women do not feel safe going out at night.
So this amazing campaign of “Girl’s Night Out” happened in Muvattupuzh, Kerala, and was an initiative by the MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan. The sole purpose of organising the four days event was to make the girls realise that they are safe even in the dark hours. To encourage them to go out at night and have a normal nightlife like other people in the city. The “Girl’s Night Out” campaign was decked out with fun activities and stalls like food, music performances, lighting, dance, marathon and you just name it. In fact, through his FB post, the MLA also informed that the event was a grand success and many people had turned up for this. He also mentioned that the response was also proof that the people want nightlife and also welcome women to be a part of this.
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It is indeed important to encourage women to come out of their homes, roam freely and have a normal nightlife. And this move was a good effort to promote this idea, however, it is also sad at the same time to realise that the governments have to do this to make women feel safe to do something that should not be in question in the very first place. Why are cities, and towns, not safe places for women at night “especially”, and how will a four-day happy event help to scrap this deeply embedded fear among women? Every other day we hear such horrible crimes against women, why are there no concrete steps to stop it, these things are just adding up to the fear. The Girl’s Night Out event made this harsh truth more obvious.
