The World Bank JANUARY NUMBER 14 IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE FINANCE, PRIVATE SECTOR, AND INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORK GENDER Gender and transport: 21 246 A rationale for action Transport can make a big difference in increasing women's productivity and promoting social equity. How best can transport policies and projects identify and respond to the needs of women? Transport investments have consistently rep- burdens of headloading a large portion of resented 15-20 percent of the World Bank's fuel, water, and produce. lending portfolio. In addition to its major con- Yet women have less access than men tribution to economicgrowth, transportplays to private vehicles and public transport. Making transport a crucial role in socially sustainable develop- In urban areas public transport is generally mentbybroadening access to health and edu- less than satisfactory on nonradial and non- pOlicy sustainable cation services, improving the exchange of peak routes, on which women rely more information,andpromotingsocialcohesion. than men. The combination of "multitask- requires paying Because women are vulnerable members ing" and poor service and vehicle access of society and their productive roles are severely limits the time available for (and more attention sometimes not fully reflected in sector strat- timing of) other activities. egy, consideringhowtransportpoliciesand While these patterns are disturbing, they to women's needs projects address women's needs is impor- are not a sufficient basis for policy. More tant for socially and economically sustain- knowledge is needed about the conse- able transport policy. Yet little attention quences of the transport burden for both appears to have been paid to women's needs rural and urban women's availability for in transport projects. In fiscal 1997 just 4 employment and access to markets and percent of Bank transport projects included social services-and about the economic a gender component or gender actions- losses that result. Little work has been done compared with 15 percent for water sup- in urban or rural contexts on the most cost- ply projects, 35 percent for agriculture, 44 effective interventions for gender-related percent for education, and 67 percent for transport problems. Making transport pol- population, health, and nutrition. icy more responsive to the needs of women The burden of transport for rural women requires developing a structured approach iswell documented. In addition to their major to understand their needs, identifying productive roles-for example, women instruments to address those needs, ana- account for about 70 percent of agricultural lyzing the costs and benefits of those instru- production in Africa-women are almost ments, and establishing an appropriate exclusively responsible for household and policy framework. To that end the PREM child-rearing tasks, so they have numerous Network and the Transport Division are and diverse transport needs. For example, developing a toolkit-scheduled for release in rural Africa women transport more than in 1999-that will help task managers iden- three times as much as men (figure 1). tify, design, and assess gender-responsive Women also suffer the physical and health transport projects. FROM THE DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS VICE PRESIDENCY AND POVERTY REDUCTION AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT NETWORK Identifying women's transport ically directed to women's transport needs, needs such as better route planning or the provi- The growing use of household and public sion of special buses or increased off-peak transport user surveys-as in current pub- hours or services on less-traveled routes. lic transport projects in Europe and Cen- Where women are highly dependent on tral Asia-offers an excellent opportunity nonmotorized transport, studies in several to improve basic data on the travel patterns countries suggest that the simplest forms of of urban and rural women. Estimating wheeled transport (such as wheelbarrows women's latent (unsatisfied) travel demand or handcarts) could halve the amount of is also important, although doing so requires time women require for local transport. Reducing women's that information be collected directly from Promising interventions also include widen- women rather than from male heads of house- ing roads to provide safer and faster passage transport-related holds. Reducing women's transport-related or providing cycling and walking paths and time burdens will also require new modes teaching women and girls to ride bicycles. burdens will require of analysis of this data-for example, explor- ing howwomen's time is allocated, or its avail- Evaluating the benefits of new modes of ability is constrained, may contribute to the gender-oriented efforts design of measures to reduce transport time. Most transport infrastructure projects are sub- analysis In developing that analytical framework ject to a cost-benefit analysis comparing the it is important to understand how travel pat- capital costs and incremental maintenance terns develop. In both urban and rural areas costs of the new infrastructure with the reduc- this requires analyzing intrahousehold dynam- tions in vehicle operating costs, accident costs, ics with respect to control of household and time costs resulting from the project. For income, ownership and control of means of savings in travel time a distinction is usually transport, disaggregation of transport demand made between working time and nonwork- among household members; and latent trans- ing time. Where the division of labor in house- portdemandamongwomen. Particular atten- holds involves men working in paid tion should be paid to the impact on women employment and women performing house- of urban transport policies and programs. hold tasks and unpaid productive activities, conventional analytical methods tend to Identifying potential policy undervalue the transport needs ofwomen by initiatives not adequately reflecting the opportunity cost A number of policy initiatives can help of their time. This includes time spent man- ensure that women benefit from road con- aging households and home-based economic struction and maintenance projects: activities, caring for children, transporting * Promoting labor-based construction and fuel, engaging in formal and informal eco- Figure i. Women shoulder maintenance, with incentives to hire nomic activities, and so on. a much heavier transport women. Analytical approaches that require the burden than do men * Ensuring that women are represented in valuing of transport time may be particularly Ton-kilometers the planning and design of transport difficult to apply in developing countries peryear investments, including on user panels, with high subsistence or semi-subsistence 40 road fund boards, and so on. self-employment by both men and women, 35 a* Improving the dissemination of infor- particularly in rural areas. In such cases val- 25 mation on transport investments and uation requires carefully reexamining the 20 Women related employment opportunities. treatment of time savings to take into account 15 In recent years more attention has been such issuesas thevalue oftime saved in espe- 10 Men paid to the institutions and regulatory frame- cially arduous tasks (such as carrying water), 5 _urin works in which services are provided and the value of time saved by women engaged Burkina Uganda Zambia to the factors affecting the sustainability in domestic activities, and the appropriate- Faso of projects. This approach raises the possi- ness of conventional willingness to pay Source: Barwell 1996. bility of a new range of instruments specif- approaches when household budgets are controlled by men and the opportunity cost costs, because it tends to reduce the over- of women's time is not easily measured. all level or quality of service. Attempting There are other challenges to face. The to avoid this conflict by directly subsidiz- tradeoffs between the private and social ben- ing gender-targeted services merely changes efits of improved transportation services- the question into one of deciding on the for example, better access to health and best uses for available finance. education services, economic and social empowerment of women, social inclusion Setting the policy stance of marginal urban and rural populations- The limitedgenderfocusin World Bank trans- are also often not accounted for in evalua- port projects can be at least partly attributed tions of transport projects, especially urban to an emphasis on traditional transport plan- The policy response projects. Nor are some of the broader issues ning objectives, which focus on ensuring that relating to the case for public goods-for investments are economically efficient but will depend on example, the impact of better transport on typically say little about the distribution of pro- women's labor participation and wage rates, ject benefits. This approach raises the ques- whether gender- impacts on social standing and empower- tion of whether the gender impacts of ment, and indirect impacts on family health, transport should be treated primarily as an related transport among others. efficiency issue or an equity issue. If the problem is seen as primarily eco- burdens are seen as Evaluating the costs of gender- nomic, the issue to decide is whether the oriented efforts benefits ofgender-specific interventions are an efficiency issue or About 80 percent of public transport is typ- worth their costs. This evaluation involves ically provided by the private sector on a technical issues about how impacts are esti- an equity issue commercial basis. Thus the crucial ques- mated and judgment issues about how tions for transport projects are whether a impacts are valued. service is likely to be considered commer- Different issues arise if the problem is seen cially attractive by a private supplier and, as essentially an equity issue. It may be clear if not, how the commitment of public funds that women have worse or more expensive to support the service should be appraised transportthan men, but thismaybe the result and, if warranted, financed. of more general gender inequality-for exam- In most cases the profit motive is sufficient ple, in terms of access to the household bud- to ensure the provision of any service that is get or to private transport-rather than biases potentially commerciallyviable. For example, in transport service provision. The question specialized taxi rickshaws that transport school- that must then be answered is whether gender- children in Bangladesh are an entirely pri- related transport measures are a cost-effective vate initiative. But in many countries the way to address gender-related disadvantages, private supply of a public transport service given other available alternatives for low-cost is provided under a license or franchise that interventions to reduce women's time and defines-and often limits-what the supplier load burdens. In practice, many transport inter- can and cannot do. In such regulated systems ventions can be designed to help the most self-interest may drive operators to focus on vulnerable. For example, public transport sub- satisfying the planners, and thus not seek- sidies are often justified on equity grounds. ing to maximize profits by going beyond the Similarly, the first stage of the design process provision of the regulated service. in rural road projects is to identify areas at the This may mean facing a serious trade- greatest disadvantage. off. Where there is some form of mono- Attention to gender in Bank transport poly franchise it may be possible to secure projects must be part of a broad sector strat- unremunerative services (such as low- egy that considers all disadvantaged groups. demand off-peak services or low-occupancy In general, well-designed improvements in gender-specific services) through cross- transport systems can benefit women and subsidies. But this approach is not without men equally and, in some cases, women more than men. But problems may arise port, Travel and theFemale Traders ofAccra. when projects do not address gender dif- Aldershot, U.K: Avebury Press. ferences in transport needs and women Kudat, Ayse, Stan Peabody, Ovezdurdy benefit less than men. Some women may Muhammetberdieve, and Klaus Moeltner. even be worse off. Thus assisting women 1997. "Strengthening Ashgabat's Urban means raising awareness among policy- Transport System."In Michael Cernea and makers and planners and ensuring that Ayse Kudat, ed., Social Assessments for Bet- women are represented in user-based par- terDevelopment: Case Studies in Russia and ticipatory planning. CentralAsia. Environment and Sustainable In discussions with nontransport line Development Studies and Monographs ministries, cross-sectoral impacts of trans- Series 16. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. Attention to gender port improvements-such as better access Paul-Majumder, Pratima, and Masuda Kha- to and provision of health or education ser- toon Shefali. 1997. Examining GenderDimnen- in Ban k transport vices-can serve as a basis for raising gen- sions of Transportation inDhaka Metropolitan der issues. Many times there will be tradeoffs Area. Nari Uddug Kendra. Dhaka, projects must be to be faced, and informed decisions will Bangladesh. require information about women's trans- World Bank. 1994. "Case Study on the Role part of a broad port needs. A first step will be to ensure that of Women in Rural Transport: Access of at each stage of the planning process, atten- Women to Domestic Facilities." SSATP sector strategy tion is paid to involving women in the plan- Working Paper 11. Sub-Saharan African ning and implementation of projects that Transport Program, Washington, D.C. that considers all affect them. .1996. Sustainable Transport: Priorities forPolicy Reform. A Development in Prac- disadvantaged Further reading tice book. Washington, D.C. Barwell, Ian. 1996. Transport and the Vil- groups lage. World Bank Discussion Paper 344. This note was written by Michael Bambeger (Senior Washington, D.C. Sociologist, GenderDivision, PREMNetwork) and Bryceson, Deborah Fahy, and John Howe. Jerry Lebo (Transport Specialist, Transport Divi- 1993. "Rural Household Transport in sion, Transportation, Water, and Urban Devel- Africa: Reducing the Burden on Women?" opmentDepartment) with assistancefirm Kenneth World Development 21 (11): 1715-28. Gwilliam and Colin Gannon. The authors are Gannon, Colin, and Zhi Liu. 1997. "Poverty grateful to Margaret Grieco and Ajay Kumar for and Transport." TWU Discussion Paper helpful comments. 30. World Bank, Transportation, Water, Ifyou are interested in similar topics, consider and Urban Development Department, joining the Genderand Public Services Thematic Washington, D.C. Group. ContactMichaelBamberger(x36438) or Grieco, Margaret, Nana Apt, andJeff Turner. Jerry Lebo (x8 7396), or click on Thematic Groups 1996. At Christmas and on RainyDays: Trans- on PREMnet. 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