gender-inclusive urban transport: issues and initiatives

8/3/2019 Gender-inclusive Urban Transport: Issues and Initiatives

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Gender-inclusive Urban Transport:

Issues and Initiatives

Jeff Turner

Visiting Lecturer, University of Leeds, UK &Independent Consultant

[email protected]

Prepared for Regional SeminarGender, Urban Development and

Water Supply and Sanitation

14-16 November 2011, Vientiane, Lao PDR

The views expressed in this paper are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian

Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy ofthe data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper donot imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Overview

Why a focus on gender and urban transport?

What we know about the gender differences in urbantransport?

What approach can we take to gender-balanced urban

transport planning and investment decision-making? What tools and practical measures are there for the

design of transport infrastructure?

What tools and practical measures are there for

operation of transport services? How can we change the gender profile of who is

employed in the transport sector?


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Why gender and urban transport?

Globally, women travel shorter distances, by slower modes (publictransport or walking), for different purposes to different places, often withchildren or other people, combining a set of activities within one journey(known as trip chaining) whereas men are more likely to travelunaccompanied on a single purpose trip.

Women also perceived greater degree of risk whilst travelling and are alsovictim to considerable degree of sexual harassment

The management and performance of urban transport system placesdifferent burdens on men and women with the costs of poor publictransport system performance being often borne by women turning downemployment opportunities further away in favour of lower-paid localopportunities to manage their household and productive activities withinthe time available.

Improvements to urban transport affect men and women differently and

not always positively - for example, a focus on improving major transportcorridors into a city centre, may favour men at the expense of women asmore men may travel to city centre employment and more women maywork locally or in peripheral locations.


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What do we know about the differences in how

men and women travel across cities?

Research done by for the Dhaka UrbanTransport Project in 2000 highlights thedifferences in how frequently men andwomen travel

70.6 % of women workers made one totwo trips per day,7 % made three to fourtrips per day, whereas 85% of male

workers, 85.0 % made one to two tripsper day and 14.3 % made up to three tofour trips per day.

ADB sponsored research in Yerevan,Armenia highlighted that women weremore dependent on public transport thanmen.

Women spent more time travel on theMetro system with their journey timesvarying between 20 minutes to 1, 5 hoursa day (while for men its 15 40 minutes)

Women relied more on off-peak andperipheral public transport routes.

Evidence from low-income populations inChennai (India) and Chengdu (China) in

2008 highlights the difference in travel

between men and women

As many as 83 per cent of the poor

women in Chennai walked to work,

compared to the men, of whom 63 per

cent walked; in Chengdu, 59 per cent of

the women surveyed walked, while only

39 per cent of the men walked.

in Chennai, male bicycle rates of 8 per

cent and women rates of only 1 per cent, a cycling mode share of 32 per cent for

men in Chengdu, and a much lower but

still solid 19 per cent for women.


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What are the challenges in collecting gender-

disaggregated urban transport data?

Mobility-focused diary surveys are a common method for

collecting data on how people travel.

Frequently focus at the household level.

Do not gender-disaggregate travel patterns.

Even when collected is analysis is rarely gender-disaggregated.

However, there is often no clear consensus on travel survey

methodology, making it impossible to do comparisons between

cities or countries

Some countries dont have national travel surveys

Time-use surveys at the national and city level may be

productive way forward as they provide a more integrated

gender-disaggregated approach to understanding daily life and

travels part in it.


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How can we plan for urban transport in a gender-

equitable manner?

There is a need for a new planning

and governance approach to

gender-balanced urban transport

management and development

There is a need for new gender-

equitable transport planning and

decision-making processes

There is a need for a new toolkit of

measures and policies

Participatory Approaches such as

Gender-responsive Budgeting andGender & Transport Audits may

help

There is also a need to build

capacity internally within transport

agencies to plan transport in a

gender-equitable manner. 5 Stages of Gender-responsive budgeting

1 Situational analysis Needs

2

.

Assessment of Policy and

programme for gender

sensitivity

Policy/pro

gramme

3 Adequacy of financial

resources for 2

Inputs

4 Monitoring expenditure Outputs

5 Impact assessment on

gender equity

Impact


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How do we design urban transport

infrastructure that reflect women's needs

Walking is a very important modefor women not only for personal

journeys but also as part of a cityscommercial freight distributionsystem. Infrastructure to meet thatneed is important

Research in Jakarta found thatwomen had design issues with newsuburban rail systems around:

Handles in trains

Height of step into trains

Safety of access to and withinstations

Need for integration of railinfrastructure with surroundinginformal economy

Source photos: (top left and right) T KRUGER and KLANDMAN (2007); bottom righ Author: bottom left (Maurice

Koop at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mauricekoop/311344940/


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How do we operate urban transport services

that reflect women's needs?

There have been a number ofwomen-only carriagesintroduced to rail basedservices across the world.

that women-only rail services

have spurred very mixedreactions

Some societies view them aspositive thing, however,concerns were raised aboutthe need to empower women

in the promotion of suchmeasures and NOT seen as thelocking away of womenpassengers.

Source: Peters (2011)


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How do we operate urban transport services

that reflect women's needs?

Some cities have introducedwomen-only bus and taxi services

Mexico City introduced women-onlybuses. 22 vehicles operating 3routes across the city every day.

Dhaka has repeatedly sort tointroduce women only buses andcurrently operate 6 buses on 3different routes

Research highlights the challenge ofmoving beyond just being a tokenservice.

Public sectors role in regulationsaround reserved seats for womenwithin the mainstream system, thepricing structures and planning willhave greater impact.

The importance of integrationbetween formal and informal public

transport is also key.Source: Top Peters (2011) & Bottom Rahman (2010)


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How do we encourage more women into the

urban transport workforce?

Increasing number ofinitiatives globally to increasethe number of womenworking in the transportsector

Well-established practice ofincorporating womensemployment into rural roadinfrastructure projects.

Increasingly, new transportsystems such as Metros and

BRT in places like Ahmedabadare being used as opportunityto change the gendercomposition of the transportworkforce

Source: Top Peters (2011) & BRTS Blog Indiahttp://bestmumbai.blogspot.com/2009/10/ahmedabad-brt-gifts-first-woman-driver.html


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Overview

Why a focus on gender and urban transport?

What we know about the gender differences in urbantransport?

What approach can we take to gender-balanced urban

transport planning and investment decision-making? What tools and practical measures are there for the

design of transport infrastructure?

What tools and practical measures are there for

operation of transport services? How can we change the gender profile of who is

employed in the transport sector?


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THANK YOU!


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References

ADB (2011) Research undertaken for Gender Assessment of Yerevan Public Transport System

(personal communication)

Anderson, Janine and Nelson Panzio (1986). Transportation and public safety: services thatmake service use possible, in Marianne Schmink, Judith Bruce and Marilyn Kohn, eds.,

Learning about Women and Urban Services in Latin America and the Caribbean (New York,

Population Council) pp. 246-66.

Kruger, T and Landman, (2007) Crime and Public Transport South African Transport

Conference, 2007 http://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/handle/10204/1028

Peters, D (2011) Gender and Sustainable Urban Mobility, thematic study prepared forSustainable Urban Mobility: Global Report on Human Settlements 2013

http://www.unhabitat.org/grhs/2013

Rahman, Shafiq-ur, (2010) Special Bus Service for Women in Dhaka City, Bangladesh, paper

prepared for 12th WCTR, July 11-15, 2010, Lisbon, Portugal

Shefali, M (2000) Study on Gender Dimension in Dhaka Urban Transport Project. World Bank,

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGENDERTRANSPORT/Resources/bangurbantransport.pdf

Srinivasa, S. (2008) A spatial exploration of the accessibility of low-income women: Chengdu,

China and Chennai, India, In Uteng T.P. and T. Cresswell (Eds) Gendered Mobilities Ashgate,

Avebury, pp. 143158

Turner, J (2011) Urban Mass Transit and Social Sustainability in Jakarta, Indonesia, case study

prepared for Sustainable Urban Mobility: Global Report on Human Settlements 2013

http://www.unhabitat.org/grhs/2013
http://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/handle/10204/1028http://www.unhabitat.org/grhs/2013http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGENDERTRANSPORT/Resources/bangurbantransport.pdfhttp://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGENDERTRANSPORT/Resources/bangurbantransport.pdfhttp://www.unhabitat.org/grhs/2013http://www.unhabitat.org/grhs/2013http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGENDERTRANSPORT/Resources/bangurbantransport.pdfhttp://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGENDERTRANSPORT/Resources/bangurbantransport.pdfhttp://www.unhabitat.org/grhs/2013http://researchspace.csir.co.za/dspace/handle/10204/1028

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