Women-Only CTA Train Cars

Having ridden the CTA train line for the past 3 years, I witness countless acts of aggression toward women on a weekly basis. Normally, this is in the form of a verbal threat but sometimes there is physical contact involved. In almost every case, men are the aggressors. Just today I overheard a man loudly yell "Fuck you bitch!" to a woman for bumping into him on the train and refusing to grab the overhead handrails (which are often far too high for people of short stature.) She was taken aback but eventually sat down quietly, and no one did anything about it.

This is not the first time this has happened. As a woman, I feel very unsafe in these situations, where men feel the need to show their dominance in a train car environment. You would think some of the other men would have stepped in, but no.

I took it upon myself to tell him as I was getting off that he should be ashamed of himself for talking to a woman like that. I am done. I am fed up with the system and I want something to change.