STRATEGIES International Transportation (70) 1 | 2018 21 WomenMobilizeWomen Transforming mobility through female empowerment The debate about sexual harassment of women (#metoo) has caused an international outcry. It also led to increasing public attention for the restrictions of mobility that women face in their daily movements. Therefore, it has given momentum to a discussion long overdue in transport policy, planning and operation. Kristina Kebeck M obility is the precondition to have access to goods and services such as health, work, education, leisure. However, transport, and more specifically urban transport, is often seen as gender neutral, that a road, rail or bus system benefits all equally. But, this is not the case! Women face more restrictions to mobility, and their travel patterns differ from those of men due to their differences in needs and tasks, and access to resources. Although women are more dependent on public transport and walking, transport often fails to respond to women’s needs. And it is especially women, who are more affected by safety and security issues. They encounter violence and harassment when they are using public space, particularly in public transport. This reduces the freedom of movement of women and girls, their ability to attend school or work and to participate fully in public life. Thus, there are specific differences between men and women in how they use transport and in how they perceive the key attributes and functionalities of any transport system. Raise awareness: Women mobilize Women To address this long overdue issue of empowering women in transport, GIZ has kicked off a debate on the role and potential of women in sustainable urban mobility, with organizing an international conference “WomenMobilizeWomen” in Leipzig, backto-back with the ITF 2018. “WomenMobilizeWomen” is co-hosted by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) and brings together high-level transport experts and practitioners from all over the world. The conference will foster knowledge exchange and in-depth discussions on female empowerment focusing on the implementation of sustainable mobility solutions on the ground - by women, for women. About us and our work As GIZ we act on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to raise awareness and a better understanding of gender and women empowerment in the context of international cooperation. Our aim is to provide knowledge to our project partners and interested decision makers on how to integrate the empowerment of women into planning and project implementation, taking into consideration the specific needs of women in transport which will have a broad impact and a lot of benefits not only for women. GIZ has published a “Sourcebook on Gender and Urban Transport” for policymakers in developing and emerging countries on the topic of gender. This sourcebook serves as user-manual for, but not exclusively limited to policy-makers. It identifies areas in which gender and urban transport intersect and points out the concept of gender as a transversal topic that is relevant in all phases of planning, design and implementation. GIZ´s module handbook provides examples and policy advice on transport systems around the world, empowering mobility of women. ■ HELPFUL LINKS Sustainable Urban Transport Project: www.sutp.org WomenMobilizeWomen: www.womenmobilize.org Transformative Urban Mobility: www.transformative-mobility.org Kristina Kebeck Transport Policy Advisor, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Bonn (DE) kristina.kebeck@giz.de Photo: Carlos Pardo, 2010