Women find Chennai 'safest' for less crime, more jobs; Delhi enters 10 safe cities list

Other cities that feature in the top 10 are Coimbatore (Million plus), Tiruchirappalli, Vellore, Salem, Erode, and Tirupur (Less than a million). (Illustration by Suneesh Kalarickal)

Chennai is the safest Indian city for working women, thanks to concerted efforts of the government and local organisations, according to a study.

The Top Cities for Women in India (TCWI) report by diversity consultancy firm Avtar Group has come up with two lists of Indian cities based on population. On the list of cities that are home to over a million people each, Chennai is followed by Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad, for building the most conducive environment for women’s employment.

The study created a City Inclusion Score (CIS) for a list of predetermined cities. The CIS is a composite of three pillars: Social Inclusion Score (SIS), Industrial Inclusion Score (IIS), and Citizen Experience Score (CES).

The survey covered 113 cities in India to gauge their inclusivity and conduciveness to working women. The million-plus list has 49 cities, while the second list of cities with less than a million populace has 64 entries.

In the second category, Tiruchirappalli bagged the first spot, followed by Vellore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and Shimla.

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Southern states score better

Eight out of 10 cities with less than a million population are from the South, including Tiruchirappalli, Vellore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Salem, Erode, Tirupur, and Puducherry, while Shimla and Gurugram are the only two representatives from the North.

Delhi, which held a CIS rank of 14 last year, made its debut in the top 10 by securing the eighth spot, though it went down eight spots from the last year with an SIS ranking of 27.

Tamil Nadu has a total of seven cities on both the top 10 lists with both the toppers, Chennai and Tiruchirappalli, belonging to the state. “Enabling and inclusive initiatives by the government play a crucial role in Tamil Nadu cities emerging as a dominant force in the top cities for women index across both categories. The resultant social inclusion measures of southern cities is six percentage points above the national average. The administrative focus, including gender-segregated budgeting, focus on safety pronounced through reduced crime rates against women, and ample employment opportunities, have resulted in this outcome,” Dr Saundarya Rajesh, founder and president of Avtar Group, told Moneycontrol.

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When Avtar Group mapped the emotional landscape of women from Tamil Nadu cities who were part of the focus group discussions and surveys, women from the state showed 41 percent positive sentiment and only 19 percent negative sentiment about experiences in their cities, she said.

Looking at all 113 cities, the state-wise average shows Kerala leads with the strongest average of 36.10 as a favourable state for women. The three cities from Kerala (all in the less-than-a-million category) – Kochi, Trivandrum and Kozhikode - were ranked third, fourth and eleventh, respectively.

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