The quest for a more inclusive transport system calls for addressing women’s challenges in transport. These challenges cross several dimensions including accessibility, safety and security, information provision and infrastructure and transport services.
The review of women’s challenges in transport started from the consideration that insufficient accessibility may result in an inability to reach different travel modes and thus exclude women from various opportunities and activities. Regarding women´s safety and security, it seems that knowledge of this problem has not advanced as much as knowledge about travel patterns and choices. It is also urgent to fill the enormous information gap that exists on this subject. There is a lack of reliable, up-to-date and easily accessible database that could provide a comprehensive and complex overview of the current situation and its time evolution. Studies on how women and men interact with the physical environment, urban form, street design, city density, distances and time issues, and how they relate to the local issues of sustainability (energy, pollution, climate) will bring added information.
A desirable transportation system needs the equitable and harmonious development of public transport and increase its quality to meet the needs of all segments of society, especially women. Further research is needed about gender and mobility in small cities and rural and remote areas and trips. It is worth noting that governments and transport agencies take an effort to involve more women in transport planning and decision-making processes and also incorporate more women in all related managerial and technical positions that are traditionally in hands of men, whose visions and travel needs consciously or unconsciously tend to permeate the policies of the transport sector.
ERAdiate team member Shahab Khormali presented a review of these challenges at the 8th international scientific conference on Road and Urban Transport (CMDTUR 2018). This conference, traditionally held in Žilina, Slovakia, has as its main goal to disseminate knowledge and the exchange of best practices between researchers and experts in road and urban transport.
More information on the conference available here.
