Policy Brief: A Safe Public Transportation Environment For Women and Girls

,

• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9789292572884
• eBook ISBN: 9789292572891
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

It is only by specifically considering the needs and concerns of women and girls that we design infrastructure and services that are truly inclusive. This three-country study analyzes the incidence and impacts of sexual harassment on public transport. It proposes simple design changes and policy considerations which when implemented, can change the behavior of targets, perpetrators and bystanders, and make public transportation systems a safer and preferred commuting option for both women and men.

V.	Results of the Incidence Research: How Safe Do Women and Girls Feel?

The responses gathered were based not only on women’s perceptions of safety and danger but also on actual, real-life experiences.³⁶ An analysis of the data collected in the rapid assessments demonstrated several significant trends. First sexual harassment in public transportation is a concern for women in all three cities. Second, the data show that women are frequent users of public transportation and thus there is strong incentive to keep public transportation networks safe for them. Third, there is a correlation between frequency of public transportation use and the likelihood of being sexually harassed. Fourth, most female commuters were either students or working women, using public transportation to engage in activities that would build their economic or human capital. Fifth, the majority of women who had faced sexual harassment did not receive help when they needed it; most respondents also said that they did not render help to targets when they witnessed sexual harassment. Sixth, those who had experienced sexual harassment reduced their use of public transportation as a result, and many changed their behavior to be more cautious.

Experience and Frequency of Sexual Harassment on Public Transportation

Rapid assessments undertaken in the three cities indicated that a high proportion of women have experienced sexual harassment. Among women who responded to the question about whether they had ever been touched, followed, stared at, or become a subject of anyone’s inappropriate behavior while riding the metro or at the terminal and its environs, 69% out of a total of 630 respondents said they had experienced such harassment while using public transportation (Table 1).

Table 1: Number and Percentage of Respondents Who Experienced Sexual Harassment

Note: The question was worded differently for each of the three cities.

Sources: Data generated from ADB. 2014. Rapid Assessment of Sexual Harassment in Public Transport and Connected Spaces in Karachi. Consultant’s report. Manila; ADB. 2014. Georgia: Rapid Assessment of Sexual Harassment in Public Transport and Connected Spaces in Tbilisi. Consultant’s report. Manila; ADB. 2014. Rapid Assessment on Sexual Harassment in the Baku Metro Rail. Consultant’s report. Manila.

Of the respondents surveyed in Baku, Azerbaijan, 81% said that they had experienced some form of inappropriate behavior. In contrast, a much smaller proportion of respondents (45%) in Tbilisi, Georgia, reported that they had experienced being sexually harassed, although the question limited respondents to their experience in the previous 6 months. In Karachi, Pakistan, however, 78% of the respondents had felt harassed or uncomfortable at some point while using public transportation in the previous year. Even using the lowest incidence rate (in Tbilisi), where the metro carries 85,000 commuters per day, and assuming that 50% of these commuters are female, the responses indicate that there will be 3,800 sexual harassment incidents per day, 211 per hour, or between three and four women sexual harassment targets every minute on the metro, for an incidence rate of approximately once a week per female commuter.

According to the 162 survey respondents in Baku who said that they had experienced some form of inappropriate behavior that made them feel uncomfortable, 26.5% of respondents experienced sexual harassment almost daily, and 34.6% reported being sexually harassed a few times a week (Figure 1). Among the respondents in Tbilisi who had experienced some form of inappropriate behavior in the previous 6 months, 3.3% reported that they had been sexually harassed almost daily, and 10% reported being harassed a few times a week (Figure 2).³⁷ In Pakistan, 21% (50 respondents) said they had “many times” felt uncomfortable or harassed by men’s behavior while commuting on a public bus or at the bus stop in the previous year; 41.7% (96 respondents) said they “sometimes” felt uncomfortable or harassed (Figure 3).

Figure 1: Frequency of Harassment among Respondents in Baku, Azerbaijan

Source: Data generated from ADB. 2014. Rapid Assessment on Sexual Harassment in the Baku Metro Rail. Consultant’s report. Manila.

Figure 2: Frequency of Harassment among Respondents in Tbilisi, Georgia

Source: Data generated from ADB. 2014. Georgia: Rapid Assessment of Sexual Harassment in Public Transport and Connected Spaces in Tbilisi. Consultant’s report. Manila.

Figure 3: Frequency of Harassment among Respondents in Karachi, Pakistan

Source: Data generated from ADB. 2014. Rapid Assessment of Sexual Harassment in Public Transport and Connected Spaces in Karachi. Consultant’s report. Manila.

Frequency of Use of Public Transportation by Female Commuters

The rapid assessments also disclosed that women in all three cities frequently use public transportation. More than 80% of the women participating in the research used public transportation regularly, almost every day, or at least one to four times a week (Table 2).

Table 2: Frequency of Use of Public Transportation by Female Commuters

Sources: Data generated from ADB. 2014. Rapid Assessment of Sexual Harassment in Public Transport and Connected Spaces in Karachi. Consultant’s report. Manila; ADB. 2014. Georgia: Rapid Assessment of Sexual Harassment in Public Transport and Connected Spaces in Tbilisi. Consultant’s report. Manila; ADB. 2014. Rapid Assessment on Sexual Harassment in the Baku Metro Rail. Consultant’s report. Manila.

In Baku, 65% of those surveyed used the metro almost daily, while 20.5% used the metro one to four times a week. In Tbilisi, 14% used the metro almost every day and another 66% used it one to four times a week. In Karachi, a little more than half of the respondents said that they used public transportation every day, whereas 24.4% used buses or chingchis one to four times a week.

Frequency of Use of Public Transportation and Sexual Harassment

As might be expected, there was a correlation between frequency of use of public transportation and the likelihood of being sexually harassed. In Baku, one-third of survey respondents who had used the metro almost every day said that they had felt sexually harassed daily (Figure 4). In Tbilisi, more than 80% of those who had used public transportation for 150 days or more in the previous 6 months reported being sexually harassed at least once (Figure 5). In Karachi, 77% of the women who used public transportation almost every day said that they had been sexually harassed many times or sometimes (Figure 6). In other words, those using public transportation daily or often were subjected to sexual harassment or feeling uncomfortable more frequently than those who only used the metro sometimes.

Figure 4: Metro Use and Sexual Harassment, Baku, Azerbaijan

Source: Data generated fr...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Tables and Figures
• Foreword
• Abbreviations
• I. Introduction: Inclusive Development, Empowering Women
• II. Legal and Policy Protections for Women: An Overview
• III. Methodology and Study Limitations
• IV. Background - Public Transport Systems in Three Cities
• V. Results of the Incidence Research: How Safe Do Women and Girls Feel?
• VI. Recommendations
• VII. Conclusion
• Back Cover