In May 2018 the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) launched Women Mobilize Women as the first conference to empower women in transport, with 200 female as well as male transport experts gathering in Leipzig, Germany. Today, Women Mobilize Women is a network of female change makers from all over the world, seeking to actively transform the mobility sector to become more diverse. In addition, Women Mobilize Women aims to raise awareness to the topic of gender and transport amongst planners and decision-makers in the transport sector.
New initiative
Global Alliance for Feminist Transport
At the ITF Summit 2024, a new global network was established. Jointly with Women on the Move and Women in Motion, we launched the Global Alliance for Feminist Transport.
With this community-based platform, our mission is to unite and empower organizations, networks, and individuals working towards gender-equitable transport systems worldwide. We aim to be the leading voice in advocating for feminist sustainable transport, by highlighting the who, how, and what of gender equity in mobility.
The Global Alliance provides a platform to connect stakeholders and scale up actions, shaping the global agenda on sustainable transport. While many initiatives strive for gender equity, knowledge, data, and best practices are often dispersed. Therefore, we aim to make it easier to share and discover developments in gender equity in transport and mobility worldwide.
Walking in Manila
Building Feminist Cities Series
Building Feminist Cities was launched with a successful workshop in Delhi, India, co-hosted by Women Mobilize Women (WMW) and Safetipin in October 2023. This event series aims to foster a diverse, global community dedicated to creating more feminist, resilient, and adaptable transport systems capable of handling increasing societal and climate challenges.
The second Building Feminist Cities workshop was held at the Asian and the Pacific Transport Forum 2024 in Manila. Over two sessions, we explored what it means to develop truly inclusive, sustainable transport systems for the 21st century.
Session 1: “Looking at the Intersections of Inclusivity”
A panel of four experts from diverse backgrounds led a discussion on the role of intersectionality in urban mobility planning. Participants from around the globe engaged in exploring the importance of considering care work, planning for people with varied needs and backgrounds, and creating policies that ensure equitable access for all mobility users and workers.
Session 2: Jane’s Walk
Inspired by urbanist Jane Jacobs, Jane’s Walk is a global movement of free, community-led walking tours. During this event around the ADB HQ in Manila, over 60 participants observed their surroundings and reimagined a more inclusive city for everyone, regardless of age, gender, ability, socio-economic status, race, and background. AI-generated postcards sparked participants’ imaginations during the walk. The session concluded with feedback on different walking experiences in Metro Manila, emphasizing the need for better and more inclusive transport.
Thanks to the positive feedback, the next two Building Feminist Cities workshops are already confirmed for this year and will take place in Brasilia and Nairobi.
Networks Unite
Working together for gender-responsive sustainable mobility
In a significant leap for the global transport sector, different organizations working in the field of gender and mobility – including Safetipin from India, Women on the Move (WotM) from Asia, Mujeres en Movimiento (Women in Motion) from LATAM, and Women Mobilize Women (WMW) announced plans to form a global strategic alliance. This alliance seeks to unite feminist transport initiatives across the world, collectively working towards gender-responsive sustainable transport systems and set a global agenda for the topic looking forward.
Learn with us!
E-Learning Course: An Introduction to Gender and Mobility in Emerging Economies
Throughout history, transport policies and services have almost always been designed by and for men. There is now a growing awareness among researchers and policy-makers that ignoring women’s needs can impact their ability to use transport.
In this four-week course by Women Mobilize Women, you’ll learn why gender matters in transport and mobility. Focusing particularly on emerging economies, you’ll explore what happens when we bring gender and mobility issues together, and how gender-sensitive planning could improve transport access for everyone.
You do not need to have experience in the specific field of gender and mobility to get the most out of this course. This four-week course will provide you with a thorough introduction to this important topic – the space in which transport planning meets gender inequity. This is an exciting space that can have a direct impact on sustainable, inclusive development and the well-being of women and society around the world. When you have completed this course, you will never see mobility and transport in the same way again.
The course is interactive, self-paced, free, and only takes three hours of study time per week. Join us!
Registration: 09 October – 05 November 2023
Duration: 4 weeks
Language: English
We are celebrating!
5 Years of Women Mobilize Women
The launch of Women Mobilize Women was full of inspiration and enthusiasm. Over 150 participants – most of them women – from different fields and countries came together in Leipzig to share their experiences and ideas on how to transform our cities so that no-one is left behind.
Out of this conference came the desire to sustain and develop the energy and cohesion of the participating women. Thus, the Women Mobilize Women initiative was born to connect and empower women worldwide who are committed to inclusive and sustainable mobility.
What started as a conference theme in 2018 has become a global network. In honor of Women Mobilize Women’s five-year anniversary, we made the TUMI 2023 Conference theme “Feminist Voices In Transport”. In this magazine, we look back at WMW’s journey in five years of learning, inspiration and community. Happy anniversary to all of us and enjoy reading!
TUMI2023 Conference
Thank you for an inspiring conference
Thank you to everyone who made the #TUMI2023 Conference on #FeministVoicesInTransport an inspiring event. We believe that the connections and ideas shared during this conference will have a lasting impact.
Out now!
Remarkable Feminist Voices in Transport 2023
This volume of Remarkable Women in Transport is a special issue for us. Our 2023 anniversary edition aims to showcase the power of diverse visions for feminist transport policy. A public call for “Feminist Voices in Transport” resulting in over 80 nominations from over 20 countries. We were excited to read about the inspirational work happening around the world and learn from each one of the nominees. It is time to to listen and learn from each other to better understand the diversity of feminist measures in transport: Download here.
Learn about over 180 visions for feminist urban transport in our previous editions!
Expert Study Tour and Award Ceremony in Berlin
Remarkable Feminist Voices in Transport 2023
As part of our anniversary celebrations for Remarkable Feminist Voices in Transport 2023, we organized an expert study tour and award ceremony for our winners. 20 of them joined us in Berlin from the 27th of February to 3rd of March. While there are countless women raising their voices to establish gender equitable and just mobility, the group coming from 13 countries to learn together in Berlin were perfect representatives and leant to a memorable week. Learn more about the Feminist Voices in Transport Week in Melissa Bruntlett’s recap.
Bridging the Gender Data Gap in Transport
Transport is not gender neutral. Women’s mobility behavior differs greatly from that of men: on average, women walk more often and use public transport more, while men resort to the car more often. In doing so, women face the risk of (sexual) harassment and other forms of violence. Women have more diverse mobility needs and represent the largest share of public transport users worldwide. Yet, there are no robust data analyses on women’s mobility patterns and transportation needs. There is an urgent need to close the gender data gap to ensure that transportation planning, design, operations, and user experience are inclusive. As part of the Women Mobilize Women initiative, ground data sets were collected, analyzed, and recommendations developed in 4 selected cities.
On behalf of WMW, WhereIsMyTransport Ltd. and Groots conducted multi-layered data collections in the African pilot metropoles Nairobi, Lagos, Gauteng and Abdijan. The data collection included online surveys, in-field surveys, ride-alongs, workshops and ground data collections with local shop owners.
Explore the results on our dedicated website!
5 Principles to Empower Women in Transport
Women face different challenges when it comes to mobility, whether it is inlcusion, safety, accessibility or entering the workforce in the transport sector. How to cater the needs of women in transport?
Check out our 5 Principles Poster to Empower Women in Transport!
Actions
Since Women Mobilize Women was launched in Leipzig in May 2018, the initiative has grown significantly. Here are some of our key actions:
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More Information
“You have a sisterhood of others who are working with you!”
Robin Chase, Co-founder of ZipCar
Become part of the movement!
Are you a transport woman expert who mobilizes or are you interested to join us? Get in contact to mobilize women in transport together!