Gender and Accessibility

Abstract

In today’s world, the transport system is essential in helping people reach the activities they want or need to attend. However, like in many other fields, inequality can exist in access to various opportunities based on personal characteristics. Little is known about how gender and intersectional factors impact people's perceived accessibility. This thesis aims to fill this knowledge gap using a mixed methods approach. First, desk research shows that perceived accessibility can be influenced by a large variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the primary mode used, perceived safety in transport and socio-demographic factors. Second, Structural Equation Modelling is used to investigate the strength of relationships between the various found factors and gender intersectional factors. This analysis shows that being a woman has a negative effect on perceived accessibility, which can for a part be explained by women feeling less safe in transport at night. Additionally, the analysis shows that for women having young children negatively impacts perceived accessibility, but not for men, while for men income positively relates to access to a car and in turn to perceived accessibility, an effect which is not found for women. Finally, the subsequent qualitative analysis, using workshops, shows that little attention has been paid in the past to (social) safety issues in transport and to differences in needs between different kinds of travellers. In the future, more cooperation between transport institutions and integrated intersectional policymaking in transport would be of significant value.