Could 'women-only' carriages reduce sexual assaults?

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

She starts yelling "Stranger - danger" , walks up to me and starts kicking me in the shins ...

Probably thought you were a fraud investigator from the DWP. Similar has happened to me.

[RichardB]

Ah 4SUB's. Southern Discomfort as they were known. I wonder how passengers would compare them with current stock 30 years after their withdrawal.

I don't think those old compartments, with no way of escape between stations, would be in any way acceptable today.  Not that anyone would bring them or anything like them back.  Some nasty incidents too, as I vaguely recall.

Spent quite a bit of time in 4SUBs and 4EPBs in Surrey..........

[John R]

I'm inclined to agree with you Richard.  Sometimes people forget some of the more positive aspects of changes in rolling stock over the last 30 or 40 years, most notably safety in several forms (including personal security as well as crash-worthiness). 

[Oxonhutch]

BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) Rule Book from 1964 ...

161: When ladies are travelling alone the staff must, if requested, endeavour to select a compartment for them (according to the class of their tickets) in which other ladies are travelling.  If ladies wish to change compartments during the journey, the staff must enable them to do so.

I don't know when this was withdrawn but I hadn't realised this was still on the books so recently - that's recently for some of us!

Remember "Life on Mars" was set in the 1970's!

[TonyK]

BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) Rule Book from 1964 ...

161: When ladies are travelling alone the staff must, if requested, endeavour to select a compartment for them (according to the class of their tickets) in which other ladies are travelling.  If ladies wish to change compartments during the journey, the staff must enable them to do so.

I don't know when this was withdrawn but I hadn't realised this was still on the books so recently - that's recently for some of us!

Remember "Life on Mars" was set in the 1970's!

Does "Ladies" include the David Walliams sort of "ladies"? ("I am lady, I have a lady's ticket, and I would like a lady's seat in a ladies' compartment in a ladies' carriage. From a lady's station, if you don't mind.)

I do not, however, see how a government of any colour, except the black of Isis (shudder), could enforce such segregation on gender grounds without risking a humiliating defeat in the high court, let alone Strasbourg. To hear a junior minister say she may even think about it makes me think there must be an election in the offing.

You heard it here first. To the Hustings, sisters! Allow me to hold the door for you, my dear...

[JayMac]

Allow me to hold the door for you, my dear...

Now FT,N! that is either chivalrous or benevolent sexism. 

[TonyK]

Allow me to hold the door for you, my dear...

Now FT,N! that is either chivalrous or benevolent sexism. 

I agree. Try this with two different women, you get at least three different answers.

I am at least a bit "old school", and would rather risk a slap for chauvinism than miss the chance to offer a lady my seat. I had an unexpected turn-down of sorts on a tram in Rome, heading in the direction of the Vatican, when I graciously stood in favour of a rather elderly looking nun. Using almost all of my Italian vocabulary (except the beer ordering bits), I said "Prego, sorore, si accommodi!". Her reply was, in much better English than my Latin, something on the lines of "Young man, you look like you need the seat more than me", but with a smile to melt the heart of a tyrant, and, no doubt, a prayer that will get me into heaven without a ticket, and with no questions asked. I felt mighty and humble in equal measure.