Mobility & Logistics Photo Source: ShuƩerstock From Audits to Action: Making public transport and urban spaces safer for women A guidance brief based on the ‘Toolkit for Enabling Gender Responsive Urban Mobility and Public Spaces’ India Gender Toolkit - From Audits to Action: Making Public Transport and Spaces Safer for Women The document was prepared by a team led by Gerald Ollivier including Mitali Nikore as lead writer, Sarah Natasha as overall coordinator, building on major contributions from the following authors: Vandana Vasudevan, Sonal Shah (The Urban Catalysts, New Delhi), Akshat Singhal and Ayushi Banerjee (The Gender Lab, Mumbai), Anju Kapoor, Philarisa Sarma Nongpiur and Divya Reddy. This document is an adaptation from the toolkit - Enabling Gender Responsive Urban Mobility and Public Spaces © 2022 The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org 2 3 P to Pho Source o Source:: isto istockphoto ckphoto Gender Toolkit - From Audits to Action: Making Public Transport and Spaces Safer for Women RATIONALE: WHY DO IMPLEMENTING AGENCIES NEED TO PRIORITIZE WOMEN’S SAFETY IN PUBLIC SPACES AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT? In Chennai In Bengaluru In Delhi In Delhi >50% 69% 95% 82% of women of women of women of women surveyed, reported surveyed, surveyed, felt surveyed, found facing sexual reported facing their mobility is bus to be the harassment in sexual harassment restricted due to most unsafe various forms in various forms fear of transport3 mode of public while traveling1 while traveling2 transport4 Lack of safety deters women from The lack of safe public transport stepping out, creating a vicious cycle options deters women from choosing that lowers women’s presence in public promising employment and educational spaces. Women’s experiences of cities are opportunities and amounts to levying a very different from men’s, as they feel unsafe, ‘pink tax’ on women. Women experience and their right to freely loiter in public various barriers while travelling, especially spaces is restricted. The limited presence at night. Even when a woman is not directly of women in public spaces in Indian cities threatened, fear, a lack of grievance redress exacerbates the threat perception and mechanisms, and dysfunctional emergency discourages women from leaving their helplines are deterrents. In this scenario, homes or using parks, gardens, and other women who can afford, pay more for safer common civic amenities. Urban planners transportation, amounting to a ‘pink tax.’ must recognize that gender affects one’s experience of a city and incorporate gender- responsive design in their plans. A 2017 study by Girija Borker shows how perception of threat and safety influences a woman’s employment and educational decisions City Delhi, India Objective  Examine the impact of perceived risk of street harassment in women’s human capital attainment Methodology  Surveyed 4000 students from Delhi University, and mapped their travel routes Key findings  Women were willing to choose lower ranked colleges to avoid taking unsafe routes to study  Women were willing to spend INR 18,800 (USD 290) per year more 4 than men for a route that is safer WHAT MEASURES CAN IMPROVE SAFETY FOR WOMEN AND PERSONS OF MINORITY GENDERS ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND IN PUBLIC SPACES WITHIN INDIAN CITIES? A LOOK AT SELECT MEASURES Improving safety standards in public developing policies to increase women’s transportation and public spaces participation in frontline staff. While public requires a collaborative effort from authorities and implementing agencies city authorities, frontline staff, duty bear the majority of the responsibility for bearers, the general public, and users of implementing interventions, the general public transportation. Improving safety public also has an important role to play in necessitates a comprehensive gender- making public transportation and public responsive approach, from analyzing issues spaces safer for women by becoming more and problems through user surveys to aware, participative, and responsive. I II III IV ASSESS THE GROUND STRENGTHEN BUILD CAPACITY IMPROVE SITUATION PLANNING AND AND RAISE INFRASTRUCTURE & POLICIES AWARENESS SERVICES  Understand gender differences in  Integrate a gender-  Mandate training  Enhance women’s mobility patterns lens in new and and capacity safety on public  Understand safety existing policies and building of duty transport and concerns and threat plans bearers spaces perception of public transport and public  Introduce gender  Forge partnerships  Apply a gender lens spaces inclusivity in for raising on infrastructure decision making awareness design and public  Identify gaps in and key institutions transport services and enabling current policies, community action regulations, and legal through campaigns frameworks  Identify gaps in institutional capacity and assess prevailing mindsets to deliver gender-responsive programs Select Measures Safety Audits Increase Campaigns Emergency User Surveys proportion of for by-stander services women frontline interventions 5 staff Gender Toolkit - From Audits to Action: Making Public Transport and Spaces Safer for Women Safety Audits What are safety audits? benchmark the level of harassment and Safety audits are a participatory tool that identify blind spots. allows women to assess the safety and Who can conduct safety audits? threat perception of a public space / public transport facility, including identifying Implementing agencies, public transport infrastructure challenges, design issues, authorities, city-authorities, social and gendered use of space. organizations, etc. can undertake safety audits while taking support from CSOs, Why are safety audits useful for academic institutions, or private sector enhancing the design of public transport agencies. and public spaces? How can safety audits be conducted? Safety audits can provide good information on transport design requirements and While safety audits used to be conducted can be undertaken at different stages only physically in the past, in recent of a project: during project preparation, years, several organizations have begun implementation, and even as a tool harnessing mobile applications and for evaluation. Regular safety audits of crowdsourcing information using social their facilities can help city-authorities media and web portals for conducting and public transport service providers digital safety audits. CASE STUDY Tondiarpet, Chennai: A Safety Audit Report 2020  Mobile applications generated audit pins to collect photos of 321 km of local roads from taxi windshields.  The audit was based on eight parameters namely, lighting, Audit Details openness, visibility, presence of people, footpath, gender usage, transport and security  Each location was assigned a safety score between 0 and 5, (0-1) being poor and (4-5) being good in terms of overall safety  Tondiarpet's overall feeling of safety was rated 3.8/5  Gender usage parameters were mostly rated poor or below average Key Findings  Low gender usage parameters suggest women and children use public spaces less post-sunset 6 User Surveys What are user surveys? How can user surveys be conducted? User surveys are extensive surveys that Surveys can be conducted using various provide in-depth public transport user instruments such as questionnaires, feedback in order to understand their level telephonic surveys, web-based surveys, and of satisfaction with the mode of transport mobile applications. Surveys can also be that they use. supplemented with focus group discussions to understand further qualitative aspects of Why are user surveys useful for enhancing the feedback. the design of public transport and public space? Who can design and conduct user Undertaking user surveys across public surveys? transport services (buses, metros, suburban City authorities and public transport trains, etc.) and amongst pedestrians authorities can hire agencies to undertake and cyclists help understand their levels the surveys. The surveys should be of satisfaction in terms of convenience, designed to collect gender disaggregated comfort, accessibility, affordability and data and the agency should analyze the safety - incidence of sexual harassment, data and provide insight to improve the awareness and experience of using infrastructure and services. grievance redressal mechanisms and key barriers to reporting. CASE STUDY Gender-responsive Reforms in Public Transport: A Case of Kerala  The Kerala State Transport Department undertook a study to formulate suggestions for making transportation systems inclusive and safer  A baseline assessment was conducted covering three areas: Survey Details Initiatives by Government of Kerala, Issues and perceptions of women and infrastructure. Various good practises were also studied.  Following secondary data analysis, around 1,600 women were consulted through FGDs and user perception surveys  68% of female respondents had experienced sexual harassment, with those aged 18-24 being the most vulnerable  One of the key recommendations made by this study was for Key Findings the Kerala State Transport Department to focus more on gender disaggregated data by analyzing ticketing data and disaggregated data collection for comprehensive mobility plans 7 Gender Toolkit - From Audits to Action: Making Public Transport and Spaces Safer for Women Increasing the proportion of women in frontline staff What is the current structure of frontline in late evening hours, enabling a shift in staff? mindsets. Most importantly, the greater presence of women and persons of minority In India, the frontline staff and the duty genders adds to the feeling of safety. bearers mainly are male-dominated roles in the public transport sector. Currently, the How can the appointment of women representation of women servicepersons as frontline staff be increased? bus drivers, conductors, and security guards remains low across major cities in India. City authorities, urban local bodies, public transport authorities, and other Why are women frontline staff essential implementing agencies can set targets for enhancing safety? to increase the proportion of women and persons of other gender in these job Increasing diversity in frontline roles makes roles. These agencies can also implement women and persons of other gender most mandatory policies which support the visible and normalizes their presence in employment of women staff. public transport and public spaces even CASE STUDY Gender diverse workforce on Kochi Metro, Kerala, India Project  The Kochi Metro was inaugurated in 2018, and is operated by a Overview state-owned entity, the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL). Key Features  From the very start of its operations, around 80% of Kochi metro’s staff have been women, working across a wide range of positions: cleaning staff, ticket machine operators, train drivers, station managers and more, including 7 women locomotive pilots (of the total 39)  KMRL signed an agreement with a women’s self-help group in Kerala, to manage the metro stations’ ticketing, customer relations, housekeeping, parking, and canteens. Kochi Metro stations are now managed by an all-female crew, the largest in India. 8 Campaigns for bystander interventions Who is a bystander? How can campaigns to raise bystander awareness enhance safety? A bystander is someone who witnesses an event but is not directly involved in the Bystander training and intervention helps event itself, a chance spectator. In public not only in preventing or assisting in transport or public spaces, a bystander may immediate situations, but also enabling a witness instances of sexual or other forms of shift in culture such that more citizens are harassment, especially targeted at women aware and know how to recognize gender- and persons of minority genders. based harassment and violence when they witness it and intervene accordingly. What role can an informed bystander play? How can the perception of bystanders be shifted? Bystanders who are aware of handling any incident related to sexual harassment play a Community awareness campaigns and key role as part of a strategy to reduce rates trainings are essential to enable a shift from of gender-based violence and mobilize bystander apathy and passive behavior, to members of a given community. a proactive response where a by-stander intervenes in a situation. CASE STUDY StandUp, Global Program, L’Oréal Paris in partnership with Hollaback! and Breakthrough Program Overview · StandUp is an awareness and training program against street harassment through encouragement of bystander intervention. · In a study conducted as part of StandUp, it was reported that 78% of women have experienced sexual harassment in public spaces and only 25% have claimed that they were helped out by a bystander. Key Features · The program provides training for women and men to intervene safely when they witness harassment on the street. · The program provides digital training for both – those experiencing sexual harassment as well as bystanders. 9 Gender Toolkit - From Audits to Action: Making Public Transport and Spaces Safer for Women Emergency Services What kind of emergency services can services be improved? enhance safety in public transport and Implementing agencies can increase the public spaces? adoption of technology-driven surveillance Emergency services, including emergency and emergency services to enhance buttons, helplines, mobile-based service safety for women and persons of minority for emergency complaints, marshals and genders. Technology-based infrastructure rapid response teams can alleviate threat solutions can aid both prevention and perception. A combination of emergency better response to criminal offenses. With services may be required to effectively the majority of users owning smartphones, alleviate the threat of sexual harassment in digital emergency services like mobile public transport and public spaces. application-based helplines can be useful. How do emergency services help women How can public transport authorities who travel? complement the functioning of emergency services? Incidences of sexual harassment in public spaces are grossly under-reported often The presence of security marshals (with because there is a lack of anonymous at least 50% of marshals being women) touchpoints for the quick reporting and and assurance of a rapid response team redressal of such incidents. Having efficient arriving in a timely manner to act against and dependable emergency services the harasser can help alleviate the threat in place can ensure that the majority of perception and establish confidence in the such incidents are reported, increasing use of such emergency services. confidence among travelers. How can existing traditional emergency CASE STUDY Safe Toronto Transit Committee (TTC) mobile application Program  The Toronto Transit Committee launched the Safe TTC App that overview  allows passengers to report instances of harassment, safety concerns or suspicious activity directly to the TTC’s Transit Control Center in a discreet manner Key Features  Customers can use the “Report a Problem” button to send texts, images or videos  Customers also have an opportunity to report cases anonymously  The reports are received by trained officers of the Transit Control Center who will either respond by dispatching transit enforcement officers to the vehicle, station or stop, or provide instruction directly 10 to the person reporting the incident For more information: The World Bank Gender and Urban Mobility Toolkit Please refer to the World Bank Gender and and more inclusive transport for women in Urban Mobility Toolkit for more detailed cities. It presents a four-pillar framework information on the guidelines to be for designing gender-responsive urban followed to address gender concerns in mobility programs and public spaces. public transportation and public spaces on Inclusion and safety in public transport and safety standards. The toolkit also includes public spaces in cities are the two central sample Terms of References and survey themes discussed in this toolkit. questions in its Annexures, which are intended to serve as a point of reference The toolkit is divided into two volumes, for Public Transportation Authorities and with the first volume focused on high- implementing agencies to follow in order to level guidance for policymakers, while the ensure gender-responsive urban mobility second provides a “How-to” guide including planning. practical tools for implementing agencies, including guidelines on how to plan, design This toolkit is meant to act as a guidance and implement a participatory, inclusive note for government agencies, groups and urban mobility program. institutions that develop programs for safer VOLUME I VOLUME II ‘WHAT-TO-DO’ ‘HOW-TO-GUIDE’ NOTE FOR POLICY FOR MAKERS IMPLEMENTING AGENCIES 11 Gender Toolkit - From Audits to Action: Making Public Transport and Spaces Safer for Women References [1] Kurain, Shiba. 2017. "How Safe Do Women Feel on Chennai’s Buses And Trains?" The Hindu, July 05, 2017. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/how-safe-do- women-feel-on-chennais-buses-and-trains/article19187634.ece [2] Deccan Herald. 2013. "Two out of three women travelling in BMTC buses harassed." Deccan Herald, October 08, 2013. https://www.deccanherald.com/content/361794/two- three-women-travelling-bmtc.html [3] Stop Street Harassment. 2016. "Statistics - The Prevalence of Street Harassment." Stop Street Harassment. https://stopstreetharassment.org/resources/statistics/statistics- academic-studies/ [4] Stop Street Harassment. 2016. "Statistics - The Prevalence of Street Harassment." Stop Street Harassment. https://stopstreetharassment.org/resources/statistics/statistics- academic-studies/ To understand more about what needs to be done to tread towards gender-inclusive urban mobility click here for Volume I of the toolkit - Enabling Gender Responsive Urban Mobility and Public Spaces To understand how to plan, design and implement a participatory, inclusive urban mobility program refer to the Volume II of the toolkit 12