Interventions Filtered by Their Impact on Women
The SHE-CAN tool is designed to address sexual harassment. All 49 interventions, therefore, improve the public transport experience for females, amongst others. However, the identification of interventions is largely based on international best practices. In Africa, transport data is generally poor, resulting in disaggregated information on urban transport, which is rarely robust or widely available [1]. Furthermore, sexual harassment incident reporting is low, as many indicate that there is a lack of trust in the security agencies (police) taking action. Various authors have observed similar trends [2,3,4,5].
The Female Experience in Public Transport
Across the world, women face real and perceived threats of gender-based violence, assault, and harassment, while negotiating their daily travel in public spaces. Exposure to gender-based violence is higher amongst less affluent women that rely on walking and the use of public transport. Sexual harassment of women in public space is also widespread [6]. The literature reveals that female public transport users make more, shorter trips, while they carry a significantly higher sexual harassment burden than men [2,7,8].
In a reaction to the lack of reliable data in the African context, the Empower Consortium collected information in two African cities: Blantyre (Malawi) and Lagos (Nigeria), closing the knowledge gap regarding personal security on the African continent, at least to some extent. The study concludes that addressing (sexual) harassment requires disaggregated data collection, as many databases omit to report gender-based differences in travel behaviour and harassment perception. Furthermore, crime and sexual harassment are experienced during all parts of public transport trips, including travel to/from the system, while waiting for the vehicle and in the vehicle. Transfers increase the risk of sexual harassment. Similar results were also found in Cape Town previously [8].
Interventions
Addressing (sexual) harassment requires a multi-level approach. The legal framework needs to provide sufficient guidance, including on prosecuting offenders. Infrastructure requirements include illumination of dark areas and the creation of clear sightlines. Surveillance can provide physical security, which should be supported by management structures that ensure that women form part of the decision-making teams for urban design, as well as installing support structures for victims. Transport operators can make sure that the vehicle itself enhances a woman-friendly environment. Avoiding the tinting of windows is seen as an affordable and impactful first step. Finally, educational interventions educating men and boys can drive behaviour and culture change.
Not all interventions are perceived to be equally effective in terms of addressing the issue for all demographics and from all perspectives. This filter provides a subset of interventions that are deemed the most urgent to improve the experience of adult women on public transport. The filter considered the perceived effectiveness (from a female perspective), in combination with the resource requirements and ease of implementation of the interventions, to identify measures in each category that could serve as starting points for tackling the problem head on.
Physical Security Guards/Policing Surveillancesee intervention Procedural Approach to Dealing With Law Reformsee intervention Working with Men and Boys on Positive Masculinitysee intervention Improved Lighting At and Around Stops, Stations and Other Waiting Areassee intervention Clear Sightlines in Transport Hubs and Interchanges (including local car parks)see intervention Clear Sightlines at Underpasses and Subwayssee intervention Ensuring that Women Form Part of the Decision-Making Teams for Urban Designsee intervention Appoint Sexual Harassment Support Team see intervention Restrictions on Window Tintingsee intervention
References:
Gwilliam K., 2013. African Transport Infrastructure, Mainstreaming Maintenance and Management, © World Bank.
Allen H and M. Vanderschuren, 2016. Safe and Sound - international research on women’s personal safety on public transport, Published by the FIA Foundation. Available at the following link.
Osmond, J., and A. Woodcock, 2015. An Everyday Occurrence: sexual harassment and public spaces. CIEHF. Available at: https://coventrywomensvoices.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/an-everyday-occurence-april-2013.pdf.
Ceccato, V., 2017. Women’s transit safety: making connections and defining future directions in research and practice. Crime Prev Community Saf 19, 276–287. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41300-017-0032-5.
Uteng T.P., H. Allen, J. Turner and L. Cristea, 2021. EMPOWER Consortium Literature Review, Research funded by UKAID through the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office under the High Volume Transport Applied Research Programme, managed by IMC Worldwide.
Hollaback! and The ILR School, 2015. Street Harassment: The Largest International Cross-Cultural Study [Internet]. Available at: https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/worker-institute/news/ilr-and-hollaback-release-largest-analysis-street-harassment-date.
Jackson, J., N. Allum and G. Gaskell, 2013. Bridging levels of analysis in risk perception research: the case of fear of crime. Forum qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum Qual. Soc. Res. 7 (1). Art. 20, ISSN 1438-5627. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/15516/.
Vanderschuren, M., S. Phayane and A. Gwynne-Evans, 2019, Perceptions of Gender, Mobility, and Personal Safety: South Africa Moving Forward, Transport Research Record, pp 1-12, DOI: 10.1177/0361198119854087.
Vanderschuren, M., H. Allen, P. Krause and T Tane-Visser, 2022. Lessons learnt through gender-based travel data collection and related sexual harassment in Sub-Saharan Africa, Journal of Transport & Health, under review.