Gender-responsive public transport

Cities occupy only 3% of the total land mass of the world and around 3.5 billion people representing the half of the total population of the world live in cities (UN Women 2018). Therefore, efficient urban planning and management practices are highly prioritized in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Modern transport facilities responding to the transport needs of all are considered as one of the most important criteria of attaining sustainable cities. Therefore, SDG 11.2 particularly aims to ensure safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems for all. The necessity to provide special attentions to the needs of women, children, persons with disabilities, and older persons has also been mentioned in this specific target of SDG (UN Women 2018). As urban areas bring specific disadvantages for women, women and men’s experiences of cities are different (Tacoli and Satterthwaite 2013). In cities, women face mobility restrictions at a larger rate than men. Public transport, which is the easiest and cheapest means of transportation in a city, is a crucial element of sustainable transport. It allows women greater access to goods and services, such as health, jobs, education, and leisure by disabling the mobility restrictions they face. However, literature on urban transport studies show that public transport policies are yet to become gendered by equally responding to both men and women’s mobility needs (Moser and Moser 2005; Thynell 2016; Allen 2018; ActionAid 2016). Although, there have been a number of international efforts such as adoption of subsection 11.2 in SDG to prioritize the importance of gender-responsive transport systems for sustainable development, government and nongovernment agencies of developing countries often find it difficult to fulfil their international commitments of launching effective policies to introduce a gender-responsive public transport system for women