A 21-year-old British woman¡¯s online petition for London to adopt women-only train carriages ¡ª akin to those in Japan ¡ª as a ¡°solution¡± to harassment has gained tens of thousands of signatures, generating local coverage and debate about the pros and cons of such an approach.

Camille Brown, who describes herself as a student from London, said she¡¯s ¡°had enough of women being unsafe and feeling like I can¡¯t do anything to change that.¡±

¡°Cities such as Tokyo, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro have successfully introduced this measure, creating safer commuting options for women and sending a clear message that gender-based harassment is unacceptable,¡± Brown wrote in on Change.org.

Women-only train cars have been adopted in cities in Japan for years as a means of combatting sexual harassment called chikan, in which women and school children are particularly targeted. In 2001, one of Japan¡¯s rail operators enacted the measure during rush hour in part due to pressure from female passengers amid rising cases of chikan. It has since been introduced by many railway operators across the country and has become a norm.

Despite the measure, harassment still occurs on trains in Japan. In a survey conducted in August 2024 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, some 56% of women and 15% of men in Tokyo reported that they had been groped on trains. In March 2023, the government released a package of policies to eradicate groping, including raising awareness and providing better support for victims.

Women-only carriages can also be found in Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Mexico and Taiwan, among others.

Brown¡¯s petition currently has 13,630 signatures but has generated coverage in prominent British papers.

Critics have branded the petition a ¡°gimmick,¡± while others have said that it doesn¡¯t tackle the root cause. Others have said that the measure is necessary and a means of ensuring women feel safe in public spaces.

In an article in The Telegraph headlined ¡°What Britain could learn from countries with women-only train carriages,¡± travel writer Sarah Marshall wrote that during a recent trip to Tokyo ¡°there was none of the aggressive pushing and shoving for space which I¡¯d become accustomed to back home in London.¡±

¡°Seeking an explanation, I looked around and noted one major difference: every passenger in the carriage was a woman,¡± she wrote.

In the U.K., a third of women reported they had been sexually harassed on their way to work in 2023, according to police data.