After December 16 gang-rape, working women find Delhi unsafe, companies worried

Staffing companies such as Team-Lease and Randstad’s Delhi branch that hires mainly from the northern belt like Lucknow, Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Jaipur, are facing a barrage of new questions from potential women employees.

“Women are not saying ‘no’ to jobs, but for a call centre job, they want to be accommodated in day shifts. They are asking a lot more questions around the cab policy, working hours, etc,” says Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder & senior vice-president, TeamLease Services.

Chetna Bhutani, who works with market research firm Quantum Consumer Solutions in Delhi, is from Chandigarh and has been staying in Delhi for the past three years. She is thinking of moving to Mumbai, though not immediately.

“Delhi was the obvious choice for me as my maternal family is here, and it is quite close to Chandigarh. But, over the past few years, I have heard of so many cases of violence and assault that I do not feel safe here.

I take an autorickshaw for commuting to work, but after the recent incident, I’m wary of using public transport at night,” she says. Pavan Bidappa, business analyst at Infosys, says she will not shift to Delhi even if the money is better than what she is offered in Bangalore. “I have been in Delhi before in 2002, and was harassed in Palika Bazaar in the evening.

The recent incident has accentuated safety aspects of the city.” She says she wants a life after work and wants to step out without the fear of being harassed. “Although we have become more alert even in Bangalore, Delhi will never be an option,” says Bidappa.

Twenty-one-year-old Arushi Pratap, a fourth-year student doing her integrated MSc at IIT-Kharagpur, has got a summer internship offer from Schlumberger for later this year, with Mumbai and Delhi as possible locations.

“I’ll get to know the final location only by March, but ever since the December 16 incident, I have been hoping that I get Mumbai.” Arushi comes from Allahabad and says she hasn’t travelled very much. “Our Kharagpur campus is pretty safe, and from the stories I hear from my friends and family based in Delhi, it’s extremely unsafe for women.”

Some like P Thiruvengadam, senior director in Deloitte India, believe that choices will eventually be governed by career. “People have gone before to unsafe places.

Saying one does not want to relocate to Delhi post this incident is like saying one does not want to go to Mumbai post the blasts. If you are career-minded, you will not let go of a good job, he says.