How gender differences and perceptions of safety shape urban mobility in Southeast Asia

Isti Hidayati,Wendy Tan,Claudia Yamu

doi:10.1016/j.trf.2020.06.014

Abstract

Despite numerous studies on how gender differences affect transport mobility choices and perception of safety, there has been little emphasis on the influence of spatial and socio-cultural constructs on it, particularly in the Southeast Asian context. This article investigates this relation through (1) an on-street survey involving 383 participants in eight neighbourhoods in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, (2) analysing videos taken with the walking with video approach, and (3) a computational analysis of the street network using space syntax. Findings suggest that a large proportion of women ascribed to negative perceptions of safety as compared to men. Negative perceptions of safety were related to wariness towards motorcycles in Jakarta and absence of other pedestrians and the image of the place in Kuala Lumpur. This difference can be attributed to distinctions in spatial configurations and socio-cultural constructs between both cities. Findings provide practical insights – mode segregation or changes to street design – to address gendered mobility for sustainable urban transport in the region.

Highlights

Numerous policy advices and projects in recent years focus on differences in gender for transport planning (GIZ-SUTP, 2018; Peters, 2013; UN Women, 2019)
This article aims to identify the interplay between gender differences, perceptions of safety, and transport mobility choices whereby the perceptions of safety is assumed to be correlated to spatial configuration and socio-cultural constructs
On-street survey and video analysis reveal the gendered mode choice and the latent socio-cultural constructs within the case studies

Summary

Introduction

Numerous policy advices and projects in recent years focus on differences in gender for transport planning (GIZ-SUTP, 2018; Peters, 2013; UN Women, 2019). Mainstream media often depicted women as the victim of street crimes, such as how a woman have died during a brutal bag snatching in a major thoroughfare in Jakarta, Indonesia (Kompas, 2019), or how a women being dragged by a motorcycle in a bag theft incident in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (The Sun Daily, 2019). These depictions have created a gender socialisation that women are physically more vulnerable to street

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