3. Promising Approaches for Mainstreaming Gender in Transport -- Gender and Transport Resource Guide

GENDER AND TRANSPORT RESOURCE GUIDE

Introduction

MODULE 1:
Why Gender and Transport?

MODULE 2:
Challenges for Mainstreaming Gender in Transport

MODULE 3:
Promising Approaches for Mainstreaming Gender in Transport

MODULE 4:
Gender and Rural Transport Initiative (GRTI)

MODULE 5:
Tools for Mainstreaming Gender in Transport

MODULE 6:
Resources for Mainstreaming Gender in Transport

Acknowledgements

Module 3: Promising Approaches for Mainstreaming Gender in Transport

3.4. Promoting Women's Participation in the Transport Sector

One of the most effective ways of promoting women's participation in the transport sector is through the creation of employment opportunities. This can be achieved through programs which target women, as well as men, for jobs as small contractors and transport service providers, or in labor-based works for construction, rehabilitation and maintenance.

Photo Courtesty of IFRTD

Women's Entrepreneurship in the Transport Sector

Facilitating access to credit for women.
Promoting women's participation as transport providers.
Creating a "level playing field" for women contractors (road construction and maintenance) through procurement set asides for small business.
Providing technical assistance to women entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship Promotion Case Examples

In South Africa, the Community Based Public Works Program introduced an Emerging Female Contractors' Development Program providing training and networking opportunities for women with potential to establish a construction business.
In Guinea a GRTI funded pilot project to improve river transport in the mangrove area improved management skills and increased incomes of local women.

Women's Employment in Road Works and Transport

Labor-based road construction and maintenance
Paid labor in transport services (buses, trains, boats etc)
Positions in transport planning and management

Public Works Case Examples

In Uganda the Second Road Sector Program Support Project provided information to women about employment opportunities in road works, provided equal employment opportunities for women and men, and raised awareness of husbands to allow their spouses to participate.
In Bangladesh, the Third Rural Development Infrastructure project enabled poor, landless women to earn income through routine road maintenance and tree planting.This increased their ability to feed their families and send their children to school.

The Second Road Sector Support Project in Uganda* explicitly stated a commitment to actively promote women's participation. Strategies to achieve this included:

Building capacity at the national and district level to address gender within the transport sector.
Incorporation of the transport needs of both women and men in district and sub-country development plans.
Participation of women in planning the transport interventions.
Providing information to women about employment opportunities in road works.
Equal recruitment opportunities for women and men in labor-based road works.
Raising men's awareness of the value of their wives' participation in road works.

*Based on Synthesis Document for Integrating Gender in World Bank Financed Transport: Case Sutdies. Turner. 2003.