Lecture course: TU-BS, 2005/6

Current gaps in policy thinking on gender, transport and information communication technology.

Lecture1. October 25^th

 Introduction: an overview.

The lecture will provide an overview of the course and provide a broad outline of the current gaps in policy thinking on gender, transport and information communication technology.

The thrust of this lecture series is that transport is not simply a technical domain but is also most importantly a social domain.  Developing appropriate transport structures is not simply a matter of material techniques but requires a thorough grasp of relevant social patterns. One very relevant dimension of social patterning is “gender” - transport systems have often been designed without sufficient attention having been paid to substantial gender differences in terms of transport use patterns. We shall see the consequences of such disattention to gender issues in the course of this lecture series.   The development of information communication technologies plays two important parts in the story which will unfold through this lecture series: firstly, new information communication technology makes the recording of social patterns a very much easier business providing planners with much better data to work with.  Secondly, new information communication technologies can be used by the public to interact with (and substitute for) transport services and to interact with planners and transport operators.

Three online documents provide a basis for this course - they are:

1.  http://www.eoc.org.uk/PDF/wp_34_gender_equality_in_transport.pdf

2.  http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/mg294/maternalmortality.html

3.   http://www.geocities.com/transport_and_society/ruralinclusion.html

Transport is a social policy issue.  Gaps in both social policy thinking and transport policy thinking have contributed to the poor relationship between gender and transport: this course seeks to point out processes, protocols and procedures for a healthier interaction.

Click here for this week's Classnotes: Week 1

Lecture 2   November 1^st

Gendered time, travel constraints: the emergence of a gendered literature on transport.

This lecture introduces the literature on women’s time constraints and the impact of such constraints on travel.  It tracks the emergence of a gendered literature on transport.

Click here for this week's Classnotes: Week 2

 

Lecture 3    November 8th

Poor female representation/ bad transport design: gender and transport.

This lecture charts the inadequate relationship between gender and transport design.  It indicates the changes which are now taking place in major transport policy forums and explores the prospects for further change.

Click here for this week's Classnotes: Week 3

Lecture 4    November 15^th

New information communication technologies, new relationships in gender and transport. 

This lecture explores the range of new information communication technologies which are or can be aligned with transport and explores their implications for traditional gender and transport relationships.

Click here for this week's Classnotes: Week 4

 

Lecture 5    November 22^nd 

Gender, land use patterns and transport: redesigning space

This lecture explores the relationship between land use patterns and gendered travel patterns.  It investigates the case for redesigning urban space in the context of new information communication technologies and issues of congestion and environmental sustainability.

http://www.eaue.de/winuwd/56.htm

Click here for this week's Classnotes: Week 5

For a German literature on gender and space see:   http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~sturm/Lehre/Lit-Geschlecht-Raum.html

 

 

Lecture 6    November 29^th

Women’s transport needs: emergency obstetric transport services in Africa

 

This lecture explores the relationship between transport and maternal mortality in Africa.  It explores the way in which information communication technologies can be aligned with transport to significantly reduce maternal mortality in Africa.

http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/mg294/maternalmortality.html

Click here for this week's Classnotes: Week 6

 

Lecture 7     December 6^th

Social infrastructure and highway development:  adapting the Michinoeki to combat AIDS in Africa.

This lecture will explore the concept of social infrastructure in highway development.  The Michinoeki is a Japanese concept – it refers to the development of roadside service stations which have the purpose of providing high quality rest for travellers through the provision of services by local communities.  This development planning tool is being investigated by the World Bank in the African context as a mechanism which could also provide health services necessary to the combat of AIDS.  Truck drivers are a key source of AIDS infection and developing social infrastructure in combination with highway construction is now on the development agenda.  The lecture will explore the potential of this development in relation to other possible gender related needs such as maternal health.

Click here for this week's Classnotes: Week 7

http://www.worldbank.org/transport/roads/rdside%20station%20docs/02_NoteA.pdf

References – reading in German:

The context of AIDS in Africa - http://www.bundestag.de/bic/analysen/2004/2004_11_29.pdf

http://hrw.org/backgrounder/wrd/032105doseDE.pdf

 

Lecture 8      December 13^th

Gender, transport and environmental sustainability: role demands and equity issues

This lecture explores the pressures to reduce car use and the consequence of such pressures for  transportation justice or equity in terms of women’s needs and access to the car.  Within this lecture, we will also explore the operation of the walking bus and examine its implications for women’s time.

Click here for this week's Classnotes: Week 8

 

Lecture 9      December 20th

Gender planning in transport: the gap between policy and operations.

This lecture will explore the tools which are now available within the policy environment to undertake gender planning.  It will also provide a discussion of the existing gap between policy statements and enactment of those statements.   

Click here for this week's Classnotes: Week 9

 

Lecture 10    January   10^th

Gender awareness and gender representativeness: the retraining of the transport profession?

This lecture investigates the gender representativeness and gender awareness of the transport profession and explores the potential for and probability of the retraining of this profession.

Click here for this week's Classnotes Week 10

 

Lecture 11     January   17th

Wrap up.

This lecture will pull together the various strands of arguments and inquiry visited within the course of the lecture course.  It will provide a set of conclusions which emerge from the analysis of the literature and provide a forward view of the relationship between gender, transport and information communication technology.

Click here to return to the gender_and_transport home page.

______________

Margaret Grieco, D.Phil.(Oxon.)
Professor of Transport and Society
Napier University
Edinburgh
and
Maria Goeppert Mayer Visiting Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering under the auspices of the Centre for Gender Studies
Technical University of Braunschweig
Germany

e-mail at [email protected]