Harassment of low-income women on transit: A photovoice project in Oregon and Utah

Abstract

• Past policies like redlining result in unsafe spaces today. • Truly safe spaces must account for experiences of low-income women of color. • Participants suggest societal and transit agency changes that improve safety. Scholarship on gendered mobilities has shown that women experience transit differently than men do, particularly regarding personal safety. Not enough studies have considered the everyday interaction of women of color with transit systems. This research employs a photovoice methodology which includes in-depth interviews and phone texting with 22 low-income women of color who ride transit at least a few times a month in Oregon and Utah. Like other gender mobility research, participants discussed sexual harassment on buses, streetcar, and light rail while walking or waiting for public transportation in either crowded areas downtown or desolated spaces outside of it. At the same time, this article makes a unique contribution to this body of literature because it shows that women feel targeted also based on their racial or ethnic identity and not only their gender. The article discusses women’s actions every day to increase their sense of safety.