Majority of our urban planners, social scientists and gender activists may have hardly noticed the link between transport mobility and social mobility of women, though women themselves are very much aware of this problem and painfully so. A major barrier in the social mobility of Pakistani women is their physical mobility too in terms of their motorized movement. In a country like Pakistan where owning a private vehicle reflects on personal wealth, public transport is the only mode of transport for the less privileged. Invention of wheel is considered a momentous event in the history of mankind but it appears as this invention has yet to reach an ordinary Pakistani woman. Very unfortunately,development projects of public transport are politicized and made controversial for political gains. Scarce, inadequate and unsafe public transport keeps women from accessing educational and employment generating facilities and using it for other social activities.
Social and cultural reasons make acceptability of women riding bicycles or motorbikes very low, therefore unlike men those women who cannot afford to have a car cannot travel independently. Rickshaws and taxis are not affordable to use daily or regularly so they depend on wagons and buses for daily commute, however, unreliable, unsafe and infrequent they may be. Social and cultural reasons make acceptability of women riding bicycles or motorbikes very low, therefore unlike men those women who cannot afford to have a car cannot travel independently. Gradually, non-motorized modes of transport like walkways for pedestrians or cycling are also becoming non-existent due to making land use for only commercially profitable purposes, though cycling was already an option not available to women. Few years back, the government of Punjab did introduce a project Women on Wheelswhich aimed at providing women with scooters on easily installments and thus had a multi-pronged approach by addressing the social stigma attached to a woman riding a scooter and also making them empowered to access public spaces independently. The scope of this government intervention was very limited so ultimately these are mass transit systems which are required for equitable urban planning.
Absence of reliable and safe modes of transport does not only restrict freedom of movement for the Pakistani women but also limits certain other freedoms like right to education; freedom of trade, business or profession; non-discrimination in respect of access to public places; safeguard against discrimination in services etc. Therefore, our traffic and transport engineering consultants; urban planners and public finance managers need to be made cognizant of the gender impact of their decisions regarding provision of public transport.
A reliable transport system also includes safety and security for the female riders. Harassment is one of the factors which discourages women from riding wagons and buses unaccompanied by a male member
Fortunately, for the past few years now the provincial governments are becoming increasingly aware of the need of public transport and have again started allocating development funds for this sector, an area that they had long ceded to the private sector. Since the private sector is driven by profit maximization, therefore, urban transport is generally subsidized by the governments globally for their social and economic returns despite being not very profitable businesses, therefore, it has been a sector where the absence of government intervention was badly felt. For quite a long time the governments had restricted themselves to fare fixation only and very seldom the implementation of those fares.
A reliable transport system also includes safety and security for the female riders. Harassment is one of the factors which discourages women from riding wagons and buses unaccompanied by a male member. Stares, touching, obscene remarks, innuendo loaded language are common experiences by the female commuters. Understandably, Government cannot be made responsible to correct every ill of the society but it can shoulder its share by ensuring the bus trips in time so that women do not have to wait for long hours on the bus stops and training the drivers and conductors on basic ethics. Similarly, public right of way, especially in the marker places, should be cleared of encroachments for safe walk which is the job of local governments. Overcrowded wagons and buses aggravates the problem of harassment. More priority seats may be allocated or the women’s compartments may be made larger to fix the problem. There are a number of NGOs working for safe and secure private, public and virtual environment for women. These NGOs should come forward to address the issue of harassment, through awareness and suggesting workable plans to the government for addressing this issue of harassment. Since the harassment laws cover work place of women only and not the vehicles carrying them there, therefore, presently there is no effective legal mechanism to penalize this offence besides pressing criminal charges under Pakistan Penal Code, which is costly and cumbersome. For many readers it may appear as squeamish to complain that women cannot ride public transport due to stares and sneers but it actually is a hard fact which keeps women from occupying public spaces. In our culture it is men who decide if women can step out of the four walls and under what circumstances, therefore, such extremely unpleasant situations makes men to take it as an affront to their honour and thus not letting women to travel alone, hence, becoming a consequential obstacle in their empowerment.
An efficient and safe public transport system along with a good road infrastructure can also serve to reduce government’s burden on developing and maintaining advanced educational and health facilities for women on the basis of geographic distances, one of the existing yardsticks for developing social infrastructure, by making the existing facilities easily accessible through reliable and safe mass transit systems. Our urban planners need to realize that efficient and reliable transport systems are of considerable importance in women empowerment; provision of equitable civic facilities and the optimal utilization of these facilities by all.
The author is a gender and human rights specialist