Introduction to Week 2

As we discovered in Week 1, all men and all women’s mobility needs are not the same. People travel at different times of day, for different distances, and by different modes or vehicles, depending on many factors. One of the most important factors, or variables, is income, and the other is gender.

In developing and emerging economies, women are more likely than men to live with low-income, and to live with society’s expectations that they will care for families and children on top of any other work. Women also often limit their choices about how and when to travel based on fears relating to safety, and have less access to travel resources such as taxi fares, tickets, or private cars or bicycles.

This all adds up to women being more likely than men to live with worse transport options. Transport provision and services end up being unfair, inequitable, and exclusionary.

During this week we’ll explore the travel patterns and societal roles of women, and how this leads to particular mobility and transport needs. We will also explore some of the terminology you would have read in the glossary in Week 1: ‘mobility of care’, ‘trip chaining’, and ‘pink tax’. Finally, we’ll spend time looking at safety, and ask you to investigate ways in which your city or organisation attends to the risks women live with every day.

By the end of Week 2 you will be able to:

1. Understand the mobility patterns of women
2. Recognise the link between trip purposes and mobility needs
3. Demonstrate the safety-related mobility needs of women using supporting data from your city
4. Assess and share your own safety-related mobility needs.