We do not seek permission to walk. We just walk.
We believe that we are as much citizens of our cities as the men who pass us by at night. The roads - long, narrow, wide and short, with their potholes, bylanes, broken pavements, well lit and not, with their trees and flyovers and the constant din of construction of ever growing cities - are also ours to occupy. We walk, when we want to, where we want to.
These are not organised protests and yet, this does not mean that the walks are not in protest.
This is a way to resist and push back on what is socially and culturally ‘disallowed’ to women. We take strength in our togetherness, wear what we want, often put on some music, and meander through our city.
The walks are non-ticketed, non ‘sponsored’, for women, by women
The walks are organised by group of volunteers and advisors, and are open to all those who were assigned as female at birth, or who identify as ‘woman’.
We walk at midnight, but midnight shifts based on where we are
We have walked at 8 pm, 10 pm, 12 midnight, 2 am, and even at 4 am (see our Phoolon ki sair)!. A few times, we have walked all night - from 8 pm to 6 am. The meaning of midnight shifts, based on where we are and who we are.
We walk, because we can.
…in the hope that by walking continuously, we will finally walk into the day that each woman can walk, on the street, alone, at midnight. Everywhere.
Our Story
We stand on the shoulders of many women who came before and after us
Women Walk at Midnight started in Delhi in 2016 when a 24-hour lone walk was being attempted in the city. Within the span of the 24 hours came the night - a lone woman walking on the street became unimaginable. And so, we walked together.
The politics of walking and the need for it, especially at night, was inspired deeply by the very active conversation around women’s safety and lack of freedom or ‘azadi’ in Delhi during Nirbhaya movement in 2012 and by the succinct articulation and assertion of the need to walk in Maya Krishna Rao's theatre piece - ' Walk'. As Maya Rao put it, ‘in the day, at midnight or at 3 in the morning, I [we]will walk’.
Women Walk at Midnight also builds upon decades of feminist movement, and more specifically the contemporary Indian women’s movement where several collectives, groups, and movements have articulated women’s claim to the city -for access and leisure, at different times of the day.
Since 2016, the practice of Women Walk at Midnight has evolved, grown, learnt, fallen on its face and then picked itself up again. It has insisted on presenting itself on the streets of different cities - sometimes failing but often succeeding. Over the years, a loose community of walkers and walk leaders (Guide of the Night) has grown, often collecting around a midnight walk - thinking, feeling and breathing together.
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