Gender Dimensions of Transport in Developing Countries: Lessons from World Bank Projects

Women in most developing countries have limited access to transport services and technology. This lack of transport imposes severe constraints on their access to health, education, and other social facilities and services, making them and their children more vulnerable to serious injury or death as a result of childbirth or another medical emergency. Understanding and responding to women's transport needs are essential for reducing poverty, as reflected in the United Nations statement of the Millennium Development Goals. Many governments and development agencies have learned much from extensive field research and case studies about women's and men's substantially different patterns of mobility needs. In recent years, the World Bank has integrated these gender concerns and needs into its policies and has encouraged borrowing countries to address the concerns of women in their national, regional, and local projects and programs. The World Bank has developed corresponding guidance for the transport sector and encourages its application as appropriate in all the transport investments that it supports. This paper summarizes examples of good practice and illustrates its application in Ethiopia. However, the World Bank's Transport Sector is concerned that the outcomes for women of the interventions that it supports often continue to fall short of expectations. This paper describes the steps that are being taken to improve the effective meeting of gender needs. The paper also highlights the value of participating in a broad network of development specialist groups to share experience of effective good practices and to strengthen the scope for matching specific cultural and institutional conditions.