No woman in the city today feels safe anymore. There is an urgent need to put stricter laws in place to address offences against women, said Gita Vir, president, National Society of Clean Cities, at a symposium on ‘Fundamentalism and Women’ held at PYC Gymkhana on Wednesday.

Educationist Freny Tarapore, columnist Monica Trivedi and industrialist Pradeep Bhargava were also present. In an interactive discussion, the panelists spoke about the tendency of men to dominate women and all kinds of fundamentalism basically being about power. “I want to ask men, why do they feel so insecure? Why this pressing need to control everything and everybody?” asked Tarapore.

“When incidents such as the recent violence against women at a pub in Mangalore happen, they make you wonder what kind of culture these people are trying to project and protect,” said Trivedi.