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Suggested Citation:"PLENARY SESSION 1: Framing the Issues." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22901.
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Suggested Citation:"PLENARY SESSION 1: Framing the Issues." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22901.
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5 PleNARY SeSSION 1 Framing the Issues Susan Hanson, Clark University, Presiding Martin Wachs, RAND Corporation Ananya Roy, University of California, Berkeley The first plenary session explored the history and future of research on women’s travel issues and the relationship between poverty, spatial disad- vantages, and women’s transportation issues. women’s Travel issues: CreaTing Knowledge, improving poliCy, and maKing Change Martin Wachs Martin Wachs provided an overview of existing research on women’s transportation issues and identified some gaps. 1. A great deal has been learned during recent decades about gender differences in travel patterns in developed urban societies. Women’s travel patterns are more com- plex, and the range is shorter. even though women make more trips, they are likely to be closer to home, which probably reflects women’s great responsibility for the home and children. 2. Knowledge in developed nations is uneven. Research is needed about gender and mobility in rural areas (e.g., small towns and Indian tribal areas) and with respect to long distance (intercity) travel, non-work-related travel, and air travel. 3. Although more has been learned about traffic safety and gender, knowledge has not advanced nearly as much as knowledge about travel patterns and choices. It is known that women tend to be more safety conscious and less likely to exhibit risky behavior when traveling, but women are likely to live longer than men, so their safety and mobility needs are likely different among the older population. Some evidence supports the finding that given comparable crashes, women are more likely to be injured than men, but more work is needed in this area. 4. understanding of the historical evolution of rela- tionships between gender and transportation remains rudimentary. Research that takes a long look within a historical context is much more difficult. 5. Sufficient research on gender issues associated with employment and status advancement within the trans- portation industry is lacking. Scholarship is needed on the implications for men and women of shifts in employ- ment patterns. Issues such as unionization trends and sal- ary and wage differentials need to be addressed. 6. An understanding of the impact of information technology and electronic connectivity on the relation- ship between gender and mobility is needed. For example, it is reasonable to expect that the increasing integration of information with mobility will affect women and men differently. 7. Broad syntheses that link different thematic areas together are lacking, as are studies that integrate social science analysis with broader theories of social change and gender. The future must solidify the place of gender studies in transportation by developing theory. 8. Knowledge about travel, traffic safety, and security is greater in developed economies than in poor or rap- idly developing societies. Ananya Roy, whose research focuses on gender and development in the broader con-

6 WOMeN’S ISSueS IN TRANSPORTATION, vOluMe 1 text of social justice, investigated this area of research and reported on her findings in the opening plenary session. gender, poverTy, and TransporTaTion in The developing world Ananya Roy Despite increasing globalization, the world’s poor are concentrated in developing nations. The effects of pov- erty are often more pronounced for women than men. even though the Millennium Development Goals Report1 included promotion of gender equality and improvement in maternal health, women continue to be disadvan- taged. These women are spatially disadvantaged because of forced migration and displacement or because of lim- ited access to transportation, which means they often lack access to health-care facilities, employment, and so forth. For example, in Calcutta, poor women work- 1 The Millennium Development Goals Report. united Nations Department of Social and economic Affairs, New York, 2008. ing in the informal sector (e.g., domestic service) rely on trains to get to work. Sometimes they refuse to buy tickets because they view subsidized transportation as a basic right. Transportation brings these women together, which empowers them to some extent; however, their political influence is limited, and they have no access to upward social mobility. India is working to build globally competitive, “world-class” cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Calcutta. For poor women, this often means their homes are demolished as the urban poor are pushed to remote peripheries unconnected to the city core. A gen- der, poverty, and transportation nexus is necessary in the context of transportation justice. Developed nations regularly audit the nexus, but it is uncommon in devel- oping nations. Transportation justice is paramount to expanding opportunities and providing access to trans- portation as well as to jobs and shelter. Roy observed that a vigorous research agenda on women’s transporta- tion issues must include a focus on the world’s poor and transportation justice for the world’s “bottom billion.”

Next: PLENARY SESSION 2: Changing Demographics, Women s Travel Patterns, and Transportation Policy »
Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers Get This Book
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TRB’s Conference Proceedings 46: Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers includes an overview of the October 2009 conference and six commissioned resource papers, including the two keynote presentations.

Women’s Issues in Transportation: Summary of the 4th International Conference, Volume 2: Technical Papers includes 27 full peer-reviewed papers that were presented at the October 2009 conference. The conference highlighted the latest research on changing demographics that affect transportation planning, programming, and policy making, as well as the latest research on crash and injury prevention for different segments of the female population. Special attention was given to pregnant and elderly transportation users, efforts to better address and increase women’s personal security when using various modes of transportation, and the impacts of extreme events such as hurricanes and earthquakes on women’s mobility and that of those for whom they are responsible.

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