Abstract
Equal access to safe transport is increasingly conceptualised as a fundamental right for women, with demonstrated impact on health outcomes, social and economic mobility, and societal participation. This study analysed qualitative and quantitative data to examine travel patterns and experiences among 200 women (aged between 18-64 years) using paid transport for work or educational purposes in Bangladesh. Results showed that the women faced multiple threats to their safety, including gender-based violence, harassment and crime, and traffic and non-traffic injury and that the use of paid transport was associated with high levels of anxiety and fear. Despite these circumstances, the women were captive travellers, forced to make transport choices based on price, availability, and ease of travel rather than safety. Unable to choose safe transports, the women attempted to mitigate risks by changing their travel pattern and behaviour, and by restricted their travel frequency. These findings are discussed within the context of women’s rights and mobility justice.
Highlights
For many in the Global North, perspectives of the Global South follow a narrative of development in several domains, in particular the economy, governance and society (Carrington 2015)
Mobility justice research encompasses the study of gender-based violence (GBV) in public transport in general (e.g., Lubitow, Abelson and Carpenter 2020), research such as this is still rare in the Global South
A Mann–Whitney U test found no significant differences in perceived safety between the education and work samples (U = 4308.5, z = –1.85, p = .064), indicating that these experiences were shared across all participants
Summary
For many in the Global North, perspectives of the Global South follow a narrative of development in several domains, in particular the economy (its structure and performance), governance (democracy, legislation and implementation of fair and just systems) and society (moral and civic values and practices expressing the nature and degree of discrimination and hierarchies) (Carrington 2015). This is typically the case with feminist research that has focused almost exclusively on issues facing English-speaking women in the Global North (Roberts and Connell 2016).
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