For Working Women in India, Staying Safe Can Feel Like a Full-Time Job

When Ajita Topo , a cook in an affluent neighbourhood in Delhi, leaves work in the evening, she holds her bag like a shield against her chest, keeps her fists clenched and carries a black umbrella with a very sharp end to ward off a possible attack.

She makes sure to wear lots of layers—no matter how hot it is—to deter someone from trying to grope her chest, and secures her bun with a sharp metal stick as an additional weapon.

Topo isn’t being paranoid. Last year, she was followed by two men when she left work after 10 p.m. She managed to scare them away by shouting as she passed homes with guards outside.

“Workplace, public transport, public places, we feel safe nowhere,” said Topo, the sole breadwinner for her two children. “The only solution is to stay alert at all times.”

For many women in India, taking steps to ward off a violent attack—and reassuring their families they are safe while at work and on their commutes—is an invisible form of labour that is a central element of their work life.

The killing and rape of a trainee doctor in the city of Kolkata in August was a fresh reminder for Indian women who work of the dangers lurking in public spaces where women are far less visible than men, from the deserted corners of a hospital or corporate park, in public transport or on city streets.

The 31-year-old was found dead in a seminar hall of the state-run hospital after she went on break during a night shift. A volunteer at the hospital has been arrested as a suspect. The killing prompted protests by women across the country.

Only 30% of women in India aged 15 to 64 were in the labour force in 2022, according to the International Labor Organization, as conservative values lead many families to discourage women working outside the home. In the U.S., the corresponding rate is 68%.

A decade ago, Indian laws dealing with crimes against women were overhauled in the wake of the gang-rape of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus. But women’s rights advocates say that entrenched patriarchal attitudes haven’t budged significantly, and are at the root of frequent violence against women, both in the home and outside of it.

In other widely publicised incidents, female call centre workers have been assaulted and killed as they commuted to or from night shifts. Last year, a receptionist disappeared from the hotel where she worked and was found dead days later. Each time such a crime takes place, women experience another jolt of fear for their own safety.

Piyali Maiti , clinical director for counselling operations at 1to1help, which manages corporate assistance programs for employees, said worries sparked by the Kolkata attack have cropped up in conversations with employees and their family members in recent weeks.

Sometimes “young professionals are working out in a different city. So family members are also part of our concern group,” she said. “When we have sessions with them, they raise concerns for their child’s safety. ‘What can I do as a parent to make sure my child is safe?’”

For women working in healthcare, where they are a larger share of the workforce compared with many other occupations, but late night shifts and long hours are also common, the Kolkata attack has resonated especially deeply.

Amrita Bhattacharya , a 29-year-old medical resident at another hospital in the city, said she previously felt comfortable walking the distance—less than a mile—from her work to the hospital-provided women’s residence on her own at night. Now she asks a male colleague or friend to accompany her.

Earlier she used to chafe against rules at the residence, which include locking the facility’s doors after a certain hour.

“But now after the horrific incident, I feel being put under lock and key is a must in a society like ours,” she said. “It’s a strain to deal with such fear every day.”

Sexual-assault statistics indicate that women in India are more likely to be raped by a family member, romantic partner or friend, than an acquaintance, employer or stranger. Still, the highly publicised attacks on working women dovetail with existing beliefs held by many that a woman’s place is in the home, shaping decisions made by women and their families.

A Pew Research Center survey in 2019 found 40% of Indians think it is better for a marriage for men to provide while women take care of the home and children, significantly higher than the global median of 23%.

Some women choose to withdraw from work as soon as economic circumstances permit, while others prefer lower-paid work options close to home over travelling to more distant locations.

That perception that working in public is unsafe and homes are safe shows up in India’s newest employers—gig-work platforms. Companies that focus on deliveries have struggled to hire significant numbers of women; the lone exception is Urban Company, a platform that offers personal-care and repair services at home.

The pervasive sense that public spaces are unsafe also shapes company policy. Delivery platform Swiggy at one point limited delivery hours to before 6 p.m. for female workers. The company said in a 2021 blog post on its efforts to hire more women that it reversed the policy after realising it was barring women from earning during peak dinner hours.

Economists and researchers say the low share of Indian women in the workforce is costing India economic growth.

Economic privilege can offer an additional layer of security—such as a personal vehicle for commuting to work, or access to ride-share services that come with some inbuilt safety measures. But, nevertheless, the sense of insecurity persists.

Vidhi Pandey , a digital-marketing professional, has an almost 90-minute commute between her home in Gurgaon and her office in the Indian capital, and frequently attends evening events. If an international client is involved, her day can end at 2 a.m.

“Although my husband and mother have grown accustomed to my unconventional working hours, announcing a late night at the office still makes them lose their sleep,” said the 43-year-old.

Her mother frequently lobbies her to look for something closer to home even if it means earning less. But she has resisted the pressure. Instead, she reminds her mum of her extensive safety checklist.

When she books a cab, she makes sure to look at the driver’s performance rating and reads riders’ feedback regarding his behaviour. If she is wearing a skirt, she changes into something more covered up before getting into a taxi for her ride home.

On her phone, she keeps the Delhi Police panic button app open throughout the ride. The app, developed after the 2012 bus attack and called “Himmat” or “courage,” allows the user to quickly send an alert to the Delhi Police, with a link to the user’s location on Google Maps, as well as notifications to family and friends.

She makes sure to share her live location and trip status with her husband and at least one friend. Sometimes she keeps a phone call going with her mother or a friend throughout the car ride.

“I keep thinking about how to escape if something goes wrong,” said Pandey. “I dream of a day when our society is safe enough for me to travel alone anytime, anywhere without any fear or worry.”

Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu delivered a warning to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a recent visit to Washington: Already-high airfares will surge if the war in Iran doesn’t end soon.

Sununu, a Republican who represents some of the biggest airlines as president of the industry group Airlines for America, has for weeks sounded the alarm to Trump administration officials about the economic fallout from high jet fuel prices. The war, Sununu has argued, must come to a close soon, or things will get worse.

Administration officials have gotten the message.

Privately, President Trump’s advisers are increasingly worried that Republicans will pay a political price for the rising fuel costs, according to people familiar with the matter. Many of those advisers are eager to end the war, hoping prices will begin to moderate before November’s midterm elections.

The fallout from the U.S.-Israeli attack in late February has slowed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane, triggering a sharp increase in oil, gasoline and jet-fuel prices.

That means consumers are grappling with high costs ahead of the summer travel season, as they consider vacation plans.

Sixty-three per cent of Americans said they put a great deal or a good amount of blame on Trump for the increase in gas prices, according to a new poll conducted by NPR, PBS and Marist.

More than 8 in 10 Americans said struggles at the gas pump are putting strain on their finances.

Jet-fuel prices roughly doubled in a matter of weeks after the war began, and they have remained high. Airlines have said that will add billions of dollars of additional expenses this year, squeezing profit margins.

U.S. airlines spent more than $5 billion on fuel in March—up 30% from a year earlier, according to government data.

Carriers have been raising ticket prices, hoping to pass the cost along to consumers, and they are culling flights that will no longer make money at higher price levels.

In March, the price of a U.S. domestic round-trip economy ticket rose 21% from a year earlier to $570, according to Airlines Reporting Corp., which tracks travel-agency sales.

So far, airlines have said the higher fares haven’t deterred bookings and they are hoping to recoup more of the fuel-cost increases as the year goes on.

Earlier this week, Trump said the current price of oil is “a very small price to pay for getting rid of a nuclear weapon from people that are really mentally deranged.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that if Iran got a nuclear weapon, the country would have more leverage to keep the strait closed and “make our gas prices like $9 a gallon or $8 a gallon.”

Trump has taken steps in recent days to bring the war to an end. Late Tuesday, the president paused a plan to help guide trapped commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, expressing optimism that a deal could be reached with Iran to end the conflict.

Crude oil prices fell below $100 a barrel on Wednesday, after reports that Iran and the U.S. are working with mediators on a one-page framework to restart negotiations aimed at ending the conflict and opening the strait.

Sununu said Trump administration officials are conscious of the economic fallout from the war: “They get it…and I think that’s why they’re trying to get through the war as fast as they can.”

But he cautioned that it could take months for prices to return to prewar levels.

“Ticket prices won’t go down immediately” after the strait is fully reopened, Sununu said. “You’re looking at elevated ticket prices through the summer and fall because it takes a while for the prices to go down.”

Since the initial U.S.-Israeli attack in late February, Sununu has met in Washington with National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, representatives from the Transportation Department and senior White House officials.

A White House official confirmed that Hassett and Sununu have discussed the effect of increased fuel prices on the airline industry. The official said the conversation touched on how the industry can mitigate the impact of high jet fuel prices on consumers.

“The president and his entire energy team anticipated these short-term disruptions to the global energy markets from Operation Epic Fury and had a plan prepared to mitigate these disruptions,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said, pointing to the administration’s decision to waive a century-old shipping law in a bid to lower the cost of moving oil.

Rogers said the administration is working with industry representatives to “address their concerns, explore potential actions, and inform the president’s policy decisions.”

A Treasury Department spokesman pointed to Bessent’s recent comments on Fox News that the U.S. economy remains strong despite price increases. The spokesman said Treasury officials have met with airline executives, who have reaffirmed strong ticket bookings.

“We’re cognizant that this short-term move up in prices is affecting the American people, but I am also confident, on the other side of this, prices will come down very quickly,” Bessent told Fox News on Monday.

The war has already contributed to one casualty in the industry: Spirit Airlines. Company representatives have said they were forced to close the airline because the sustained surge in jet-fuel prices derailed the company’s plan to emerge from chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The Trump administration and Spirit failed to come to an agreement for the company to receive a financial lifeline of as much as $500 million from the federal government.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has argued that the Iran war wasn’t the cause of Spirit’s demise, pointing to the company’s past financial struggles, as well as the Biden administration’s decision to challenge a merger with JetBlue.

Other budget airlines have also turned to the federal government for help since the U.S.-Israeli attack. A group of budget airlines last month sought $2.5 billion in financial assistance to offset higher fuel costs, and they separately wrote to lawmakers asking for relief from certain ticket taxes.

For Working Women in India, Staying Safe Can Feel Like a Full-Time Job

Daily planning around ensuring their safety, and reassuring family members, is invisible labour that women do to be able to work

Administration officials have spoken to the airline industry, which has voiced concerns about the rising costs.