Subway Restrooms Scare Off Women
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
More than one third of females think restrooms at subway stations are unsafe, especially at night, a survey showed Monday.
The Seoul Foundation of Women and Family surveyed 856 female passengers at 129 subway stations in Seoul in March and found that as many as 35 percent of the respondents don't feel safe in using subway restrooms for fear of sexual assault and drunks.
Some 44.5 percent said they feared encountering molesters or drunken men who could attack them, while 24.4 percent said they were reluctant to go to restrooms as they were located in secluded spots.
For such reasons, more than half of the female subway users shunned using restrooms, with 31 percent just going home to answer nature's call, and 23.1 percent visiting restrooms with friends or family members.
Their concerns were not groundless, an official of the foundation said. ``Some 15 percent of women have suffered from sexual harassment, sexual assaults or other forms of violence from men in subway trains or at stations. About 14 percent of the crimes took place at restrooms which men are banned from entering,'' she said.
Some 30 percent of restrooms on subway lines No. 2 and 8 had alarms for emergency situations, but did not work, according to the foundation's research.
The surveyed women said subway operators should relocate the restrooms to more open spots and install stronger locks on toilet doors. They also urged the authorities to patrol restrooms regularly.
``We are fixing the broken alarms, and will increase the number of closed-circuit televisions at the entrance of restrooms from 135 to 322 by the end of the year,'' a city official said.