A case for gendered mobility

The continuum of the present is always marred by the hues of the past. Right from the Greeks, women have been otherised by their so-called ‘stronger’ male counterparts.

According to the 2024 SDG Gender Index, a girl born today will have to wait until her 97th birthday – beyond her expected lifespan – to see gender equality. The report further asserts that no country is on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.

Countering this egregious, perennial impasse entails a multi-faceted approach, including revamping public consciousness, and reforming and applying equality laws and policies. What is also needed is to enhance empowerment programmes – especially covering the peripheries, where this ailment is mushroomed by outlandish poverty and extremist religiosity – and increase public-sector spending on services and social infrastructure to support women’s participation in society, among other things. In short, there is an unflinching need to reconfigure societal DNA: to morph the global outlook towards women.

Pakistan, a 77-year-old country, grapples – like many other countries – with the pathological and incessant dominance of a uni-gender and repressive current in all realms of affairs:

Economic participation: According to the newly published Global Gender Gap Report 2024 by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Pakistan has plummeted from 112th place in 2006 to 145th (out of 146 countries) in 2024.

Labour force participation: The country's female labour force participation is 24 per cent, significantly lower than Bangladesh (43 per cent) and Malaysia (55 per cent). And further, the National Commission on the Status of Women reports that of those who are participating 70 per cent of women have vulnerable jobs, characterized by low earnings, unsafe conditions, and job insecurity.

Digital accessibility: Pakistan ranks second to last (133rd out of 134) on SDG 5, gender equality in internet usage, with half of the women unable to access the internet and only 15 per cent utilizing it.

Financial inclusion: A Karandaaz Financial Inclusion Survey posits that only 13 per cent of adult women have access to financial institutions, and of this number, only two-thirds are active users.

Basic rights: In access to justice, according to the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2017-18, around 56 per cent of women never sought help or told anyone after experiencing violence. The figures on out-of-school children (OOSC) show a similar gloomy picture: girls are 7.0 per cent less likely to finish school than boys. Meanwhile, poor maternity healthcare, transcendental harassment, rape attempts (including marital), and horrific acid attacks paint a grim mosaic of poor basic rights dispensation for women in Pakistan.

All of this points to the hegemony of a single gender over the canvas of our society.

Recently, surprisingly, there has been a silver lining – illustrated best by a picture of a girl riding a bicycle in Peshawar; the photo recently went viral. Many netizens praised it, underscoring the changing perspective regarding gender acceptability within broader society. The stigma attached to certain audacious behaviours is perhaps decimating.

This is the context against which I present my case for fare-free gendered mobility.

Peshawar, the city I call home, recently introduced the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the backdrop of rapid population growth and urbanization resulting in severe mobility issues for people who also face poverty, inequality and poor delivery of amenities.

Although it has problematic supply-side issues like astronomical construction and maintenance costs, mutilation of the beauty of the old gated city and a flawed implementation of the advertisement business model, it has made strides on the demand side.

For example, a record commuter level of 280,000 passengers per day, with over 30 per cent female participation juxtaposed to the pre-BRT meagre female-public-transport-ridership of 2.0 per cent, reduction in travel time along the city’s east-west corridor by over 60 per cent, increase in cycling trips, promotion of sustainable transportation modes, and a reduction of 31,000 tons of CO2 emissions in a single year.

Urban mobility plays a major role in economic participation. Women often spend more on safer forms of transport, commonly referred to as the ‘pink tax’. These factors deter women from using public buses, pushing them towards more expensive, time-consuming, and less convenient options, such as taking taxis or walking long distances.

Women's access to mobility affects their presence in the public sphere, which in turn limits their economic participation, access to opportunities, and holistic autonomy. Urban spaces and transport systems are not usually designed with women’s needs in mind, making access to public transport a feminist issue. It’s not just about getting from point A to B; it’s about reclaiming space, ensuring equal access, and reshaping our cities to serve everyone, not just to elite capture.

So, what do we need now? The government should introduce something like a ‘pink card’ allowing women, transgender persons, and the physically challenged to travel across the city pro bono. This would cost no more than peanuts vis-a-vis the butterfly effect it could have on the economy as a whole. As UNDP suggested: Pakistan’s GDP could rise by 30 per cent if it creates an enabling environment for women to participate in economic activities.

Further, many women who travel from the outskirts of Peshawar for economic activities currently rely on informal mobility to access BRT. There is a need for a secondary transport structure to connect people from far-flung areas to the primary infrastructure, enabling the full benefits of this major infrastructural project.

Achieving gender equality in mobility is not just a matter of transportation policy; it is a question of fundamental rights, economic empowerment, and societal progress. The barriers women face in accessing safe and affordable transport are symbolic of the broader gender inequalities that permeate every aspect of life in Pakistan. By rethinking urban mobility through a gendered lens, we can dismantle the invisible barriers that limit women’s opportunities and create a more inclusive society. Ergo, fare-free gendered mobility is the need of the day.

Apart from this specific intervention, we must also invest in and create space for feminist organizations and movements for an inclusive, equitable and concurrently, prosperous Pakistan. A gender-equal future necessitates ubiquitous actions and paradigmatic change – reparation of the system, not the women.

In the words of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto (late), the first woman elected to head a democratic government in a Muslim-majority country: “We must shape a world free from exploitation and maltreatment of women. A world in which women have opportunities to rise to the highest level in politics, business, diplomacy, and other spheres of life. Where there are no battered women. Where honour and dignity are protected in war and conflict. Where we have economic freedom and independence. Where we are equal partners in peace and development.”

The writer is a Peshawar-based researcher who works in the financial sector.