Towards setting a research agenda around mainstreaming gender in the transport sector

Abstract

Traditional transport planning has tended to focus on addressing the needs of mainstream commuters through the provision of improved transport infrastructure and services, leaving out a significant number of existing and prospective users especially rural and peri-urban dwellers. However, in recent years there has been a relatively strong consensus to move towards addressing all travel needs, including those of low-income persons and special needs users. These travel needs include those relating to servicing social and reproductive work, as well as informal productive work – the types of activities that tend to be performed by women, yet are seldom sufficiently recognised or valued for the function they perform in sustaining households and communities. As Mahapa points out, transport programs have tended to “function in ways which priorities men’s needs and viewpoints over those of women”. As such, transport needs arising from women’s multiple roles are often not adequately addressed in transport research and implementation initiatives. Furthermore, evaluations of the success of development initiatives often neglect to reflect the gendered distribution of benefits or consider the influence of social-reproductive work on these interventions.