With women amounting to around half of the world's population, it seems hard to believe that the tables might not be level in something as basic as the transport we use every day. Sadly, there are problems everywhere we look, and the reason they are there, is a shortage of data - which means a shortage of good solutions.

Caroline Criado Perez’s remarkable book 'Invisible Women' gives a glimpse into the scale of the problem, with many examples of everyday aspects of lives, where women’s transport needs are not met. For example, women are more likely than men to walk or use public transport, meaning snow-clearance/salting focussed on clearing busy roads rather than footways, disadvantages women. Where this was priority for snow clearing was reversed in Sweden, the result was to reduce trips and slips on ice: predominantly women, who walk more. These injuries cost of 2-3 times that of winter maintenance annually, showing both cost and equality impacts of policy. 

Another example is bus routeing, largely radial into/out of towns, which fits men’s travel journeys (more work-related) better than women’s (more home-to-school-and-work for example).  Working women in dual-worker families are twice as likely to ‘trip-chain’ (combined school and commute journey) and in homes with one car, men dominate access even in the feminist utopia of Sweden. This means women more often get successive buses to reach destinations.  If this is understood, ticketing can assist them – like London’s ‘hopper fare’ (two buses within an hour for the price of one). 

Criado Perez describes how the UK transport statistics gives no gender breakdown on bus and rail usage, meaning women are less likely to be considered in policy decisions. The male-domination of transport planning and design, and city design also impedes design that reflects women’s needs. A DfT study reported how 62% of women are fearful in multi-storey carparks; 49% at bus stops and 59% when walking home. Men report feeling fearful at less than half these rates. Ethnic-minority women are more fearful, reflecting the additional danger of racialised violence.  Fear impedes women’s lives, so they avoid activities at night for example, rather than having public transport and public places that make them safer. Most negative experiences are never reported, so it is a silent problem that remains unresolved.

When I asked about transport experiences in a group of 1000 people (primarily women), that I am an admin for, I was inundated with experiences of being followed, groped, and intimidated, and walking home with keys gripped in hand in case of needing to defend themselves, choosing shoes they could run in if chased. Physical vehicle and place design affect other groups (children; shorter men etc), and design for all women would mean better for all. Women reported luggage racks on trains and planes they could not reach, cars with poor forward/side/rear visibility for shorter people (more women than men) and having to sit too close to the steering wheel (risking airbag injuries in a collision). On a cycle-interest forum people describe cycle racks at stations and on trains that shorter women could not use, cycle stands that are harder to lock women’s bikes to (no crossbar); high steps onto buses/coaches, coach drivers refusing to open the luggage hold then swearing at them for bringing luggage onboard.    

Sheila Holden, CIHT past president, said that transport will not meet the needs of all users until transport planning and design communities reflect the users.  This means users regardless of gender; age; ethnicity; disability of other characteristics, and meeting those needs starts with data. International Women's Day seems a good time to ask ourselves what we want transport to do, and make it work for everyone – and therefore for all women.