Women-Only Tube Carriages: Solution or Distraction?

A recent petition has gained over 12,000 signatures and sparked debate over the effectiveness of women-only tube carriages. Started by 21-year-old University student Camille Brown, the petition calls for the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to introduce women-only carriages on the London underground. But would this really make women safer, or simply hide the problem?

The petition has been effective in bringing the debate over women’s safety on public transport into the mainstream, a concern that’s all too real for many. Brown highlights how the “busy, enclosed and anonymous” nature of the underground emboldens perpetrators to commit sexual violence, often without fear of repercussions.

Brown shared experiences of harassment and assault that she and her friends have experienced on public transport in London, reflecting the harsh reality faced by many women and girls simply trying to get to work or school. Statistics back this up: over a third of women have been victims of sexual harassment or sexual offences on the train or tube, according to a survey by the British Transport Police. And the issue seems to be increasing, with sexual offence reports up by 10% on London transport. 

As a result, Transport for London (TfL) has launched a vital campaign encouraging passengers to be active bystanders, showing them how to safely intervene when they witness harassment. Siwan Hayward, TfL’s Director of Security, Policing and Enforcement, explained: 

“Everyone should feel and be safe when travelling across the network, but isolating women is not the answer to tackling sexual offences. We do not support any proposal for female-only train carriages on TfL services, but instead are working closely with the police to ensure our capital’s transport network is a hostile place for offenders, including the use of intelligence-led policing operations to target offenders and hotspot locations.”

Hayward’s comments reflect a shift towards education and prevention, rather than placing the burden on women to avoid danger. This approach acknowledges that safety should be a collective responsibility for everyone in society.

Supporters of women-only carriages often point to cities like Tokyo and Mumbai, where they are commonplace. Unfortunately, these examples suggest segregation offers limited protection, as both cities have continued to report high-profile cases of sexual violence and femicide on public transport.

There’s little research to suggest that separating women from men on public transport makes their commutes significantly safer. Instead, it can create a false sense of security, while failing to address the deeper issue: why sexual violence occurs in the first place. It also risks reinforcing the harmful message that women must change their behaviour to stay safe, while perpetrators remain unhindered. 

Additionally, by asking women to use designated carriages, society shifts responsibility onto them, suggesting that if they experience harassment in a mixed carriage, they’re partly to blame for not taking precautions. This only perpetuates the idea that women are responsible for their own public safety, shifting the focus away from the perpetrator and the importance of working to change cultural attitudes.

While designed to protect women, women-only carriages raise further concerns about inclusivity. Non-binary and transgender passengers, who already face disproportionate levels of harassment in public spaces, may feel excluded, confused about where they belong, or even placed at greater risk. The very idea of gender-segregated carriages relies on inflexible assumptions about gender presentation and identity that don’t reflect the diversity of people who use public transport. It risks reinforcing the idea that safety is only a women’s issue, when in reality, everyone deserves to travel free from harassment and fear.

At Our Streets Now, prevention takes centre stage. Our work includes educational workshops in schools, supporting universities to make cities safer, and national campaigns to advance legal and cultural change. Prevention, education, and accountability are long-term strategies - but they’re the ones that actually address the root causes of harassment and violence.

Camille Brown’s petition has shone an important light on women’s safety on public transport, an issue that affects countless women every day. Her courage in speaking out deserves recognition. But change won’t come from separating women from men; it will come with challenging the culture that makes women unsafe in the first place. Instead of women-only train carriages, we must continue to have conversations, hold perpetrators accountable, and create change so that everyone can commute without fear of violence.