Rural household transport in Africa: Reducing the burden on women?

Abstract

Rural household travel patterns have been largely ignored in African transport studies. Over the past 10 years, however, village-level surveys have been undertaken which reveal the predominance of female porterage in rural transport. Donor agencies are now focusing efforts on “appropriate” technology interventions to directly enhance rural mobility and to indirectly improve agricultural productivity. Preliminary evidence, however, suggests that men rather than women are the main beneficiaries of appropriate transport technology. This paper asks why and suggests a number of methodological refinements to future rural transport studies to generate the information necessary for devising programs with a higher likelihood of effective assistance to rural women transporters.