Women’s Issues in Transportation

Chapter 13 of Running on Empty

By Stephanie Ortoleva and Marc Brenman

2004

This chapter looks at transportation in the US through the lens of a women’s rights perspective, challenging transportation providers, funders and regulators to consider and assess impacts on women in the community in planning, research and regulation. The chapter discusses policy approaches that create parallels to civil rights laws in the US, as well as social exclusion theory, community and social impact assessment procedures, avoidance and mitigation of damage, and valuing women’s transportation. It makes recommendations on where changes should be made to existing policy and practice. It presents a case study of successful implementation in the field and describes what a new feminist paradigm for transportation might look like.