Indian state proposes banning men from cutting women’s hair to prevent groping

An Indian state is considering proposals to improve women’s safety that would include banning men from cutting female customers’ hair, tailoring their clothes or training them in gyms.

The list of recommendations, put forward by a panel on women’s safety in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, appears to favour increased segregation of the sexes as the main solution to prevent sexual assault and harassment of women by men.

The proposals have been presented to the state government by the Uttar Pradesh State Women Commission, a statutory body, which said they were unanimously supported by all members of the commission.

Among the recommendations, the commission said only female hairdressers should be available for female customers in salons, alleging that the “intention of some men is not good, which can lead to molestation”.

It also suggested that men should not train women in gyms and yoga centres, that only female staff should be allowed to conduct measurements in women’s clothing stores, and that school buses should have separate female security personnel.

The proposals also call for the installation of CCTV surveillance cameras at gyms, yoga studios, boutiques, coaching centres and other places frequently visited by women.

“It is from the point of view of women’s safety and from the point of view of employment of women,” said Babita Chauhan, the commission’s chairperson. “For women who go to the gym, my only request is that the gym owner should keep a trainer, but there should be a female trainer too,” she said, according to Indian daily newspaper Hindustan Times.

The commission’s proposals were described as part of a larger push by the state authorities to make women feel safer in public, particularly in commercial spaces.

It is now up to the state government, led by chief minister Yogi Adityanath Singh from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, to decide whether it will accept the proposals.

Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of crimes against women of any state in India in 2022, the most recent year for which government figures are available, at 65,743 cases. The state is also the country’s most populous, however – its per capita rate for crimes against women is actually slightly below the national average.

The proposals come after a high-profile case last month, in which police discovered the body of Ekta Gupta, the wife of a prominent businessman who had been missing since June. Police say her gym trainer confessed to the killing and identified the location where her body was found.