Established in 2021, the Gender and Policy Lab in Chennai is working towards making Chennai safe – and changing the conversation on urban infrastructure, women, and autonomy.  

With a focus on reimagining public infrastructure and policy through gender inclusive frameworks at a city planning level, the Gender and Policy Lab (GPL) has been relentless in their pursuit to make Chennai a safe city for women. Situated within the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), GPL –– no relation to Godrej Properties Limited! –– collaborates closely with multiple government departments, civil society organisations, elected representatives, and academic and research institutions. Their initiatives are centred around ensuring that women feel safe enough to access any public space in Chennai, whether for work or leisure.  

At the Godrej DEI Lab, we have interacted with GPL’s work from the sidelines, but recently we had a chance to be in conversation with them up-close. We spoke extensively about GPL’s history and their current work in building a gender-inclusive Chennai with Meera Sundararajan, Gender and M&E expert, and former Team Lead at the Gender and Policy Lab, Greater Chennai Corporation. (Editor’s Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. This interview was conducted in January, 2025.) 

Gayatri: How did the Gender and Policy Lab (Chennai) come into being?   

Meera: The story starts around 2021. The Government of Tamil Nadu had a project with the World Bank which was called the Chennai City Partnership Project Sustainable Urban Services program. The Greater Chennai Corporation is one of the bodies which is part of this project. The team conducted gap assessment studies, in the context of improving urban services mobility.   

During the assessment, one of the things that came up was that there is a need to address issues of women safety, mobility, and access to public spaces. Upon having a discussion with the Government of Tamil Nadu, it was felt that there needs to be an independent body solely dedicated to addressing these issues. That’s how the Gender and Policy Lab (GPL) came into being.    

But there was the question of where this lab would be hosted. Initially, it was discussed that perhaps the transportation department might be the right place, but we didn’t agree with that. We felt it had to be a place that’s accessible to everyone every day. That’s when the Greater Chennai Corporation proposed the idea of hosting us. 

Gayatri: One of GPL’s key principles is to “provide safety, not protection” to create public spaces that women can navigate freely and safely; without the need for unsolicited protection. Could you explain what this would take?  

Meera: This wasn’t something that was originally intended to be a core value of GPL. But it happened to be my perspective on the work we do vis-à-vis the work expected of us when it comes to women’s safe

Providing “protection” often implies that women are weak or that they don’t have the freedom and capability to go to work or college on their own. It implies that a male member of the family — a father or a husband — always must provide for the woman. This dynamic means that there is control over a woman’s movement in her day-to-day life; infringing her privacy.  

GPL is more interested in thinking within the framework of “security” rather than “protection.” Security is more ecosystem related. For example — good roads, efficient public transportation, and widespread street lighting are examples of what makes an ecosystem.   

We feel that security in a city makes it possible for women to access better opportunities. With good security, women can go to good schools, colleges, and workplaces. They don’t necessarily have to settle for what’s close to their homes. While “protection” can feel imprisoning, being in a safe city means you can go out, have fun, study, work, and earn money. You are acknowledged as an important being in the city.  

Gayatri: GPL has been leading a campaign called the Safe Mobility Fellowship which uses safety audits to map out security and accessibility in a city. Could you tell us more about these initiatives?  

Meera: We started the Safe Mobility Fellowship in 2023. Initially, we started having a conversation with this NGO called “Prajnya”. They wanted to talk to us about collaborating with students to conduct safety audits across the city. But college authorities had concerns about the safety of their students. We then decided to take the idea to the public – where we ended up getting a lot of traction via our website and social media! Out of fifty people who signed up to conduct these audits, we selected twenty-two and trained them on the safety audit principles along with “Safetipin” — a Gurgaon-based organization that’s a pioneer in conducting social audits using technology.  

Next, was finding locations for the audit. We selected 46 points based on our experiences and inputs from the police – these were essentially transit points and the roads which led up to them. We divided ourselves into three groups, did thorough audits, and made detailed presentations.  

These presentations were shared with department heads and interdepartmental working groups with senior officers like the Joint Commissioner of Police, the Deputy Commissioner of Police for Crime against Women and Children, and the Railway Protection Force. Additionally, we also spoke to the lead electrical engineer who is responsible for street lighting in the city. On the basis of these consultations, we did an infrastructure gap assessment.  

The second exercise, not part of the fellowship but suggested by the police, was a mock drill which was supervised by the Deputy Commissioner of Police against Women and Children. We picked a few locations based on our safety audit, and from these locations, we called the police helpline to check how long they would take to respond and reach us.   

The crucial feedback we gave the police through this drill was that when we made a call, we were asked which police station we were under. But in a distress situation, it is possible that a person might not know that! Another interesting insight was that the police are supposed to reach the location of a distress call in six minutes. In our case, the patrol took eight to ten minutes. Given the difficult traffic situation, this was quite a positive response!  

Image Caption: A moment from the “Safety Champions” training program for Women and Youth held at the TN Habitat Development Board Resettlement Colony in Ernavoor, Chennai in July 2024. Image Source: Meera Sundararajan.