Female music lovers, who happen to be die-hard fans of American songstress Lady Gaga, will get rare red carpet treatment when watching her upcoming concert in Jakarta.

Lady Gaga’s concert promoter Big Daddy Entertainment has made a major breakthrough by providing a special area for women fans.

There are around 700 women-only seats available for the show, which is due to be held on June 3 at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Senayan sports complex, Central Jakarta, that is hoped to bring in some 40,000 music lovers.

“We have learned that female music goers tend to feel uncomfortable being in the same line or crowd with men,” said Ratu Nur, Big Daddy’s production director.

“Since this Gaga concert is a huge show, we had the idea of providing a ladies area with a special female-only entrance for women’s comfort and safety.”

Ratu said the 700 tickets, which cost Rp 1.25 million (US$136) each, had already sold out a few months ago when they opened the sales.

“This is the first time we have offered such a program. And it shows that there is a high demand for the ladies area,” she says.

Hotels and entertainment centers in the capital are taking up the trend, coming out with tempting offers for female pleasure seekers to have some fun.

The Mandarin Oriental Jakarta, for one, indulges career women in town through its Ladies Night, held every Tuesday, from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m., at its trendy MO Bar.

“We are targeting career women who want to hang out with colleagues and friends after work,” said Endamia Karina, the hotel’s head of communications.

“Why on Tuesday? Many con-sider Monday as the most dreaded day of the week. We think that working people tend to start getting relaxed on Tuesday, so it’s a good time for them to spend some time on wine.”

The program, which began in 2009 during the hotel’s reopening, charges no entrance fee.

“Female customers will be served free flowing beer, soft drinks and special cocktails. Our waitresses will assist you with the different drink choices,” Endamia said.

A similar concept is also on offer at the Ephicure Wine Lounge, opened in November 2011 and nestled on the second floor of fX in South Jakarta’s Senayan district.

The wine lounge, which offers a retail-price concept and has more than 200 different wines from around the world, provides a “Woman on Top” event every Wednesday.

On that day, every female customer can get free glasses of red or white wine and a 10-percent discount on wines bought by the bottle. Other services include free valet parking and giveaway chocolate boxes.

Ephicure’s marketing and communications officer, Adriantomo, said the program was aimed at educating women about wine. As for the women consumers, Adriantomo added, most opted for sweet wines like Moscato.

In terms of public services, beginning in 2010, female commuters have had the option to avoid being trapped in super-crowded carriages with the risk of being sexually harassed through the launch of women-only train carriages by state railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia.

The women-only carriages — introduced by the train company that operates 410 carriages carrying 500,000 passengers every day on all its routes throughout Greater Jakarta — are currently limited to the KRL express, economy AC and economy non-AC trains. The coaches are placed at the head and rear of the trains.

The launch of the special service has received a warm welcome from female commuters, including Siska Ningrum, a 30-something employee from Depok who works in South Jakarta. She said that she felt more comfortable on the train as she did not have to bump against male passengers.

“Another good thing is that gender separation also lessens possible sexual harassment on the trains,” Siska said.

She thinks the current female-only carriages are not enough, however, to accommodate all female passengers. “There are only two female-only cars. During rush hour, I have to jostle with lots of women to enter the coaches. When the special coaches get too crowded, I have to take common mixed coaches,” she added.

This special women-only service is also available outside Jakarta, on the Yogyakarta–Surakarta route.

Launched in early September 2010 by the Sultana of Yogyakarta Palace, Hemas, the carriage is attached to the Prambanan Express. The move was taken in response to public complaints and to prevent sexual harassment in public places, including on public transportation vehicles.

The head and rear of the Prambanan Express, which has been a crucial transportation service in the region since it was introduced in 1994, are designated for women and can be identified by their unique pink color and signage.

The train takes less than an hour to travel between Yogyakarta and Surakarta, while a bus or car would take around two hours, depending on the traffic.

Meanwhile, in West Kalimantan, women are given a special day — every Friday — to apply or renew their driving licenses at all police stations across the province.

The program, called “Women Care Day” and which began in January, is aimed for women’s convenience in arranging their documents, said Sen. Com. Lotharia Latief, the traffic director at the West Kalimantan Police as quoted by kompas.com.

During the two months after the program’s launch, 3,840 women applied for a driving license.

In the land of retail, upscale shopping centers really know how to treat women well — and in so doing, encourages them to keep coming back to shop some more.

Many large malls, for instance, provide nursery rooms for moms who want to breast-feed their babies or change their babies’ diapers.

In Senayan City, the mall’s management provides washbasins, blankets and water dispensers to refill babies’ bottles.

“The nursery rooms are located on the ground, first and fourth floor of Senayan City. On the fourth level, we also have mini toilets for kids to educate them on how to use toilet facilities,” said Ayu.

Grand Indonesia’s nursery rooms are on each floor, located next to the regular toilets, while children’s toilets are located near its play area, Carniville, on level 3A.

Many of the malls provide special services for female visitors’ comfort and safety.

“Based on our survey, around 60 percent of Senayan City visitors are women. Therefore, we factored in some added-value facilities, such as ladies parking and nursery rooms, to make women feel comfortable and stay longer at our mall,” said Senayan City PR and tenant relations manager, Sri Ayu Ningsih.

For women drivers, Senayan City has allocated a total of 100 spaces for female drivers since 2006.

These spaces, decorated in striking colors and equipped with good lighting to provide more safety at night, are available on the basement level (B1) of its car park, which is open every day from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The parking spaces are also more accessible as they are near the entrances and exits of the shopping center, making it quicker and easier to reach the mall.

“It [the parking lot] is designed for women who drive alone or go to the mall with their children,

without their husbands or nannies,” Ayu added.

Parking and security officers are ready to guide women when they are parking their cars.

Another up-market shopping center, Grand Indonesia, also allocates 30 special parking spaces for women. The parking lots are on the basement level of its west wing and the ground level of the mall’s east wing.

However, the spaces are aimed for those who own special Grand Indonesia reward cards, called G-gold cards.

Novia Adhi, who likes to spend her weekends at malls, said she supported the women-only spaces and was pleased with the extra service from the shopping centers.

“Female-only parking spaces are helpful because most of them are close to the malls’ entrances,

making it safer as I don’t have to walk through the quiet, dark alleys in the parking lots to reach the main building.”

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