All the Ways Women get from A to B

Women walking children home from school. Photo taken by Nicole Roach, 2021, Amsterdam, Netherlands

When it comes to mobility, women have unique patterns, needs, and behaviours that often go unrecognized in transportation planning. Many of the gendered differences in mobility are attributed to the prevalence of unpaid care work, the gender pay gap, physical circumstances, and other gender-related factors. Of course, women are not a homogenous group, with there being additional differences and challenges for women with intersecting identities, such as women that are mothers, caregivers, low-income, queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, Women of Colour (BIWOC), disabled, elderly, and many more identities.

Some of the elements that make women’s mobility different from men’s are based primarily on travel times, trip-chaining, travel companions, travel options, and travel safety.

Here is a brief overview of the ways women get from A to B.

Travel Times

Women typically take short, frequent trips at varying times of the day that do not fit within the standard 9-5 commuting patterns of the average man. Women are often running errands, picking up a child, visiting an elderly relative, and completing other tasks that may happen before/after work, on a lunch break, or anytime throughout the day. Despite many women travelling at all times of the day, our transportation systems continue to be designed around peak “commuter” times, especially public transit. Many bus schedules run for set times in the morning and afternoon, leaving huge gaps during the day, in the evenings, and on weekends when there is still a need for reliable public transportation. So, the majority of public transit users are women but the schedules are oriented around men’s travel behaviours and do not accommodate the majority of users’ preferred travel times.

Trip-Chaining

Women tend to have many responsibilities associated with their paid roles and unpaid roles as caregivers and homemakers, with lots of places to be and often under tight time constraints. This is generally attributed to women experiencing “time poverty”. To fulfill their many tasks, women commonly practice “trip-chaining”, which is defined as “a series of movements between successive destination choices over some period of time”. Much of our transportation systems do not accommodate these travel patterns, with public transit service costing a fare per ride, having a lack of frequency, lack of routes, and unpleasant transfers. For example, having to pay for yourself and a few kids to make multiple trips via public transit, especially over the span of a few hours in which transfer allowances have expired, trip-chaining can be extremely costly. Furthermore, if a woman is delayed for some reason and misses her bus which connects to a transfer, her efforts to trip-chain may be extended by hours or alternate modes must be taken, like a taxi or ride-hailing service. Additionally, this lack of frequency and predictability leaves many women vulnerable while waiting at bus stops, where they are commonly subject to harassment or sexual assault.

*Sound familiar? Image: Ypma, Polack, Bellmann.* *Source*.

Travel Companions

Women are most often the primary caregivers of children and other family members, needing to bring them along on many trips. This is particularly challenging for women pushing strollers, women cycling with/alongside children, and/or bringing elderly family members on public transit. For example, many sidewalks are uneven, buildings do not have wheelchair access ramps, and crosswalks are missing curb-cuts and other pedestrian safety interventions. Additionally, many women would like to walk side-by-side with a friend that is also pushing a stroller, but the narrowness of most sidewalks makes this especially difficult. Similarly, many roads in Canada have no cycling infrastructure at all or utilize painted bike lanes/sharrows that offer no physical protection. This is not enough to encourage and accommodate women cycling with their children, whether using bike seats, cargo bikes, or trailers. Being accompanied by elderly family members on public transportation can also be incredibly difficult, with broken ramps/lifts, packed buses, and unmaintained sidewalks that restrict access. Additionally, women are more likely to be travelling with buggies, shopping bags, and other kinds of baggage which further impact their mobility choices and behaviours.

Travel Options

Due to the car-dominant infrastructure that is common throughout the country, Canadian households spend an average of $11,909 on transportation costs each year. The majority of these funds ($10,660) are spent on the purchase of cars, trucks, and vans, as well as operating and maintenance costs. Meanwhile, women in Canada earn about 80% of men’s full-time, full-year wages, with these numbers being even lower for BIWOC. So, we have built a system-oriented around the personal vehicle, a form of transportation that is incredibly expensive and out of reach for many women. This leaves women with few transportation options available to them, with many alternatives being too inconvenient, unsafe, or uncomfortable.

Travel Safety

Due to the current systems in place, women face many challenges on a daily basis trying to get around. Unfortunately, safety is a major one, with women being susceptible to harassment, sexual assault, and gender violence in almost every area of their life. While walking, wheeling, cycling, or taking public transit, women are highly exposed and often vulnerable.

As described by The Guardian journalist, Dawn Foster, who has faced numerous incidents of harassment while cycling, “a man once pulled up next to me in a van, opened the window and shouted ‘lucky saddle!’. There was another time when a car of four men pulled up behind me in the middle of a busy junction, leered and asked me if I wanted to get in the car. Or when a man cycled past and slapped my bum when I was riding along.”

Many of these incidents are regular occurrences, whether women are being cat-called while walking down the street, honked at while cycling, or groped while riding public transport. It is important to recognize that these are not random events, but are emblematic of systemic issues weaved into matters of patriarchy, power, and entitlement. When these acts are carried out by men, they are utilizing their power to exhibit that if they wanted to harm a woman, they could.

*The female mobility experience: a summary. Image: Ypma, Polack, Bellmann.* *Source*.

Moving Forward

It is evident that the transportation needs of women are different from men, and the systems in place do not meet those needs. These systems have failed women by being too costly, inconvenient, inaccessible, uncomfortable, and unsafe.

These issues are rooted in our built environment, our systems, and our society, which are difficult to change, but not impossible. We must continue to push for an intersectional feminist lens to be applied on all transportation plans, budgets, and infrastructure projects, and take things one bike lane, bus shelter, and curb-cut at a time.

Creating a transportation system that meets the needs of everyone, especially women, is the only way forward.