Contested Urban Spaces in Delhi: Experiences of Discrimination of Women from Northeast India

Abstract

Indian cities as the melting pot of cultural heterogeneity exhibits the idea of a complex urban society with problems of acceptance of cultural diversity that often leads to contest for space and exclusion of the ethnic minorities especially women from these communities. While such exclusion takes many forms of discrimination, this paper provides an account of discrimination faced by the women from the North-East in Delhi. It provides estimates of incidents which suggest that the most common form of discrimination is ‘treating’ them as foreigners. Name calling, and denial of services, especially rental accommodation on the ground of food habits are the most common forms of discrimination. Some of the respondents have also reported that washer men refuse to wash their clothes. Furthermore, women migrants often face physical abuses in forms of unwanted touching, especially in the crowded places like local markets and public buses. Men too are bantered for their hairstyle and dressing sense. Central university campuses are not even free from these discriminatory practices. North-East Helpline (1093) partially helps in lodging complains, but problem sustains. At the end, the authors come up with the idea of ethnic sensitization and establishing special units in various institutions for tackling these problems separately.