Women in a Colombian city will experience their first "women-only" night on Thursday as the authorities are planning to clamp a night curfew on men from tomorrow in a bid to tackle the rising crimes against women.

This drastic step has been taken after Bucaramanga, a city in the Colombian state of Santander, has witnessed rising crimes against women of late.

The idea of a men's curfew is not new to the world. In the 70s, Israel had faced with a similar situation and the then government of that country at that time had mulled such a step, although it did not come to fruition.

Bucaramanga, a city of just under 600,000 people, will experience its first "women-only" night as part of a campaign launched by the state governor's office, the vice.com reported.

Juan Camilo Beltrn, president of Bucaramanga Chamber of Commerce and a supporter of the plan, said that the curfew, though symbolic in nature, is a drive to thwart the plague of violent attacks against the city's women.

"When it comes to peaceful partying, women are always the best behaved," the report quoted Beltrn as saying.

Men who have to be out in any emergency during the night will need to carry a "safe-conduct permit" from the mayor's office, explaining why they are out during the curfew, the report said.

The success of the drive will rest on whether men choose to go along with the campaign. As Beltrn conceded, "We can only hope men accept the challenge (to stay at home)," which is far from a certainty.

Colombia is no stranger to the idea. A similar curfew was partially successful in the national capital Bogota at the turn of the millennium.

But the bigger question is whether the idea of a curfew for men really an effective way to deal with violence against women.