Women’s safety and security in public transport in Mekelle, Tigray

Abstract

The study assesses the women’s personal safety and security in public transport, it examines gender inclusiveness in public transport in Mekelle, Tigray. Both primary and secondary data of target women in Mekelle city have been collected in a period before the recent conflict began. Multi-stage stratified cluster sampling was used as sampling technique strategy to draw representative target women. Mixed research method was also instrumented; exploratory and confirmatory data analysis for quantitative data, and thematic analysis for qualitative data was utilized to obtain the findings, and extract evidences from the data. Besides, a systematic review was used to strengthen the analysis. The findings of the research revealed that Mini-bus taxi is found the most preferred mode of transport due to its accessibility across the city. Public transport service provision in the city remains to be largely gender insensitive. Women’s safety and security is often compromised due mainly to cultural norms and values that reflect in their daily trips. Harassments in the form of verbal and psychological abuse become rampant especially inside Mini-bus taxi. The result further shows that women have been harassed while waiting for means of transportation and while walking in the streets to catch public transport vehicles. Despite the modest progress on legal protection, harassment against women and girls is still widespread. Harassments in the urban public transport sector can be deterred through ethical training and awareness creation and strict rule enforcement mechanisms.