Ladies first!: Women aboard a train carriage designated only for female passengers following the launch of the special Jakarta-Bogor commuter trains on Thursday. The state railway operator launched several carriages for women traveling the route in an attempt to protect them from sexual harassment on trains. Reuters/Crack Palinggi

“Currently, the women-only carriage will be limited to the KRL express and economy AC class trains on the Jakarta-Bogor route,” PT KAI Commuter Jabodetabek (PT KCJ) corporate secretary Makmur Ikhtiarsyah said during the launch of the special service.

The company has allocated 20 carriages installed on 10 trains. The women-only coaches are placed at the head and tail of the eight-car trains.

The launch received a warm welcome from female commuters.

Ilda Andayani, a 36-year-old bank clerk from Depok who works in Jakarta, said she used the new service twice on Thursday and that it was a good experience.

“There were some male passengers who entered our coach by mistake. We all shouted at them and embarrassed them,” she said.

“I think this is a good move by PT KAI, because we feel more comfortable in the train as we don’t need to jostle with male passengers,” she said.

Wahidah, another female commuter from Bojong Gede, West Java, said she hoped that the carriages would still operate in the future.

“I believe there was a similar women-only coach project before, but the project flopped. Perhaps it was because it wasn’t as well promoted as this one,” she said.

The operation of the women-only carriages has also been welcomed by male commuters.

Memed, a 52-year-old resident of Cilebut, Bogor, said, “at least now there will be less passengers in the [unisex] carriages.”

“Also, we do not have to offer our seats to women anymore,” he joked.

Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Linda Amalia Sari who attended the launch of the special carriages, lauded the scheme, calling it “an affirmative action to protect women from sexual harassment”.

However, Masruchah, the deputy chairman of National Commission on Violence Against Women, said that the scheme failed to address the real issue of gender inequality.

“It only simplifies the real problem. The government is supposed to improve public education so people become more aware [of respecting women],” she said.

University of Indonesia criminologist Purnianti echoed her view, saying that gender awareness was the key issue to clamping down on incidents of sexual harassment.

“The separation will be useless as long as men do not respect women and while women still feel inferior to men, leaving them afraid to shout out or report harassment,” she said.

Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi, who also attended the launch, said the special carriages were part of an effort to improve the quality of service by the railway company.

“We will monitor the volume of passengers using the women-only carriages. If it surpasses the maximum capacity [of 150 people per carriage] we will add to the fleet,” he said.

Currently, PT KAI operates 410 carriages carrying 500,000 passengers every day on all its routes.

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