Making rural women and girls safer in regard to violence against them is not anyone's priority area and therefore nobody talks about initiating proper measures for them. This doesn't mean that they are less vulnerable as compared to urban women. However, little is being done for them world over.

Urban women and girls are little fortunate ones. Violence against them are reported frequently in the media creating a sense among the people to do something to make them safer. However, our approach towards eradication of incidence of violence against them is nothing but adhocism that amounts to only a symptomatic remedy of the disease.

It has resulted into such a precarious situation in cities of the world that the level of violence against women and girls makes up at least 25 to 30 per cent of the total urban crime. Women, especially in developing countries, are twice as likely as men to be victims of violent aggression.

It is a welcome move of the two United Nations agencies that have teamed up to combat violence against women and girls in the world's cities by proposing measures such as improved street lighting and female-only modes of transportation. There are, of course, some other general initiatives like beginning campaigns to educate people against violence against women and girls, but all of them fall short of the need to tackle the problem effectively.

Women-only mode of transportation and street lighting alone cannot make the cities of the world safer for women and girls. It may make them feel safe in the 'women only buses' or on 'the streets in the night', but what will happen when they are out of the 'women only buses' or on the streets in the day or the lonely streets.

Stringent punishments and strict policing may help more than the ways and means suggested above. For this the governments will have to resort to good governance.

It may not be out of place to mention here that UN-HABITAT is the agency that is charged with ensuring adequate shelter for all, and the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) with existing Global Programme on Safe Cities Free of Violence against Women and Girls.

These two agencies have their own limitations and the task of combating crime against women and girl cannot be tackled effectively by them, since we need much more in this regard involving many other agencies, both social and governmental.

It was rightly said by an official of UNIFEM Ms Tibaijuka, “Local authorities and city management have a crucial role to play in the prevention of violence against women, both in public and private spaces, whether it be harassment or attacks outside the home, or domestic abuse behind closed doors.”

According to the memorandum, the agencies will develop practical measures that local authorities can use to make cities safer. A UNIFEM spokeswoman said that such measures could include improved street lighting; regular, dependable and safe transportation; the revitalization of vacant lots that some women might find threatening; and women-only cars on trains or women-only buses.

The memorandum also covers broader issues of good governance, urban planning, women's empowerment, political participation, gender equality, gender-responsive budgeting and access to basic services.

For the last 10 years, UN-HABITAT has been supporting local authorities in developing countries in preventing crime and violence through advocacy, training and city level activities. UN-HABITAT advocates special attention to women's safety because the disproportionate amount of violence faced by women limits their rights and freedoms to mobility, education, work, recreation and participation in public and political life. However, the urban women and girls have become less safe than ever before. And we do not ask ourselves why?

Obviously, the fault lies in our approach to the remedy of the problem. We have let loose all sorts of activities that aggravate the problem. Our social and individual behaviour and attitudes towards money and sex has reached to the level of aberration. Our governments allow even running modern ways of entertainments like freely viewing and commercialising blue movies through internet many of them show and glorify violent actions against women and girls. Women and girls are being shown in bondage suffering violence. All these can be blocked by the governments but they are not interested in doing so for certain reasons best known to them. People are becoming more and more mentally sick and we are allowing our younger generation to be obsessed with money and sex resulting in dislocation of their personalities making them selfish, sadist, uncivil and so on. Checking such personality dislocation needs social and governmental efforts in the right direction. Following adhocism won't do.#