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I read that one politician in British Labour party suggested implementing a women-only carriage but immediately got backlash (here or here).

I tried accessing some of these articles but all of them seem to only cite statements by politicians and/or citizens, and don't include the detailed survey.

But I would rather like to know any public survey, if any, and how many citizens agree/disagree in what reasons. Has there been any such survey conducted, possibly in the past (since the idea was raised first in 2015)?

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    According to Wikipedia, the idea was also raised in 1977 and 2014.
    – Philipp ♦
    Commented Sep 6, 2017 at 7:54
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    Note that many British trains have only two carriages. So a women-only carriage would be quite a big deal.
    – David Richerby
    Commented Sep 6, 2017 at 12:59
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    If we did polls for every single thing "one politician suggests" we'd never be able to hang up the phone.
    – user1530
    Commented Sep 6, 2017 at 15:59
  • @David Richerby "Note that many British trains have only two carriages. So a women-only carriage would be quite a big deal." and men would be forced into a more crowded area because women would not be prohibited from male's carriges (or would they?)
    – Anixx
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 15:13
  • @Anixx Yes, it seems very likely that there would be women-only areas but no men-only areas so (regardless of the number of carriages), men would be forced to use more crowded areas of the train.
    – David Richerby
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 15:28

1 Answer 1

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A YouGov poll of 2948 people conducted in August 2017 gives:

It has been suggested that trains should have women-only carriages. Which of the following comes closest to your view?

  • Good idea - women only carriages would provide a safe haven for women and will help combat the rise in sexual offences on public transport: 23%.

  • Bad idea - having women only carriages implies that the onus is on women to avoid harassment, rather than that men should not harrass them: 58%.

  • Don't know: 19%.

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    Nice find. I wonder how many people think it's a bad idea for other reasons, and whether they picked don't know, or, despite disagreeing with the reason, bad idea, or if they just declined to respond to the survey.
    – phoog
    Commented Sep 6, 2017 at 11:19
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    Not a comment on your answer but the survey's question is loaded/leading. Something like "How much do you agree with women only carriage ? (Completely, a lot, a little, not at all)", would let you give your nuanced opinion without imposing on you two points that may not be the most relevents to answer the question.
    – Jylo
    Commented Sep 6, 2017 at 11:49
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    This is a spectacularly bad poll wording, as prior comments noted. For example, it excludes people who think it's a bad idea for OTHER reasons.
    – user4012
    Commented Sep 6, 2017 at 14:26
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    @user4012 I dislike the wording, but it doesn't exclude other reasons. The question asks "Which of the following comes closest to your view?" (my emphasis). I'm sure one could come up with counterexamples but, in the great majority of real cases, anyone who thinks it's a good idea will feel closest to the first option and anyone who thinks it's a bad idea will feel closest to the second. Further, I doubt that either the pro- or anti- side would be more likely to get confused into answering "Don't know".
    – David Richerby
    Commented Sep 6, 2017 at 15:12
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    @DavidRicherby "Breaking news! 58% of survey respondents think a women's only carriage would put the onus on women to avoid harassment." Does this seem like an unlikely interpretation about the survey? What about people who didn't like it because of expected outrage if a male only carriage were suggested? Would they pick this choice? These choices are certainly not exhaustive given the likely interpretation of the results.
    – Matt
    Commented Sep 6, 2017 at 16:22

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