Women's travel patterns are very different to those of men: the household responsibilities of women are heavier than those of men and typically result in women combining more activities in the course of trip making than do men. Women 'tripchain' - men's journeys are very often single purpose.
But public transport arrangements and private household transport arrangements have often been designed and organised primarily with the needs of men in mind.
There are negative equity and efficiency consequences of the gender bias in current transport arrangements and policy makers are increasingly beginning to take stock of the need for fundamental change in transport organisation. In the United Kingdom, Professor Kerry Hamilton of the University of East London has recently conducted a gender audit of transport arrangements for the DETR.
In developing countries, most particularly, in Africa women bear an unequal share of the rural burden of transport - girls and women headload goods which in other locations are moved on the backs of vehicles. Intervening to equalise the rural transport burden - a burden which has negative consequences for women's health has become a policy issue amongst agencies such as the World Bank.
The following links give an insight into the equity and efficiency issues attending the current gendered pattern of transport organisation
On line programs, materials and data bases:
On line working papers and reports:
Margaret Grieco
Professor of Transport and Society
Transport Research Institute, Napier University
66 Spylaw Road, Edinburgh EH10 5BR
e-mail at m.grieco@napier.ac.uk