Hostel Curfews Protect Girls From Hormonal Outburst: Maneka Gandhi

She said that curfews are meant for safety from accidents, which beefing up security around the campus can’t do.

Women and Child Welfare Minister Maneka Gandhi. (Photo: Reuters)

On Sunday, Maneka Gandhi, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development in an interview with NDTV said that girls’ hostels need curfews to “prevent hormonal outbreaks”.

To give credit where it’s due, she also said that boys’ hostels should also have curfews for the same reasons of safety, however that came more as an after thought.

At an interview for Women’s Day, Gandhi was questioned by students on the arbitrary curfews imposed in hostels, after which they cannot even step out to the library to which she said:

At 16 or 17 you are hormonally very challenged. So to protect you from your own hormonal outbursts, perhaps a <i>lakshman rekha</i> is drawn. It really is for your own safety.

Maneka Gandhi

When Gandhi was asked why there are no such rules for boys’ hostels, she said a similar imposition should be made on their timings as well. She cited their safety from external elements like traffic accidents as the reason for curfews.

If you choose to live within a campus, there are certain disciplines you must follow... Boys and girls both should have curfews and certain days in the week where it’s relax so they can visit the library.

Her contentious remarks come after students at college campuses have been advocating the ‘Pinjra Tod’ movement – to break such arcane curfews and let women reclaim public spaces.