India’s Women-only ‘Pink Parks:’ Safe Refuge or Segregated Enclaves?

Indian cities such as Delhi and Mumbai are creating ‘women-only’ parks and gardens in an effort to improve safety for women in urban spaces, but some are questioning whether the so-called ‘pink parks’ are exacerbating, rather than solving, a problem.

In an opinion piece in Next City, Sabah Gurmat describes how women-only parks have grown as an idea since Delhi launched a plan to build 250 of them in 2023. “These separate public spaces were meant to increase women’s access to public spaces in the capital, where incidents of sexual harassment, uncomfortable stares and overwhelming predominance of men in public spaces remain rampant.”

In a 2011 book, feminist scholars Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan, and Shilpa Ranade argue that Indian society “opts to confine women” rather than making public spaces safer for them, and that “segregated spaces, including parks like these, ultimately reinforced gender” without addressing structural issues.

However, the spaces offer real comfort, safety, and the opportunity to socialize and spend time outdoors for particularly lower-income women, who don’t have access to more exclusive spaces.