Mumbai Local train has taken a thoughtful step to mend opinions vis-a-vis women. The Ladies’ coaches that earlier bore an image of a woman in a ghunghat, a traditional Indian veil, has been replaced with a confident looking woman donning a formal suit.
According to Mumbai Mirror, the female compartments will have posters of iconic women celebrating their achievements. The posters will have images of astronaut Kalpana Chawla, badminton player Saina Nehwal and Indian women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj.
With the change of their logo, Western Railway aims at staying updated with the way women have emerged as professionals. So far the image has been replaced in only two 12-coach local trains with an intent to remodel other trains as well.
The idea was to adopt an icon that will do justice and represent today’s women in this city, who are independent and successful.Ravinder Bhakar, Chief PRO of Western Railways, as told to Mumbai Mirror
The new logo is evidently larger than the prior one so that passengers do not confuse the female compartment to be the general one.
This step taken by Western Railway has received mixed responses and some suggestions by the usual commuters on their official Twitter handle.
With this little initiative, Western Railways has attempted to upgrade not just the appearance of their coach but also the representation of a working class woman in the cosmopolis that Mumbai is. Many may have different opinions but the intent of this initiative is rather progressive.
(With inputs from Mumbai Mirror)
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