Women's and men's valuations of road system infrastructure in Sweden Polk, Merritt
Publication details: Borlänge Vägverket, 2005Description: 71 sSubject(s): Online resources: Abstract: The overall goal of this project was to identify and propose concrete measures to increase gender equality in the transport sector. The most important difficulty with this project is the complexity that is brought forward in a gender analysis of the transport sector. Gender itself is an incredibly nuanced phenomenon which influences individual identity, social roles, career choices, how one is perceived by one’s peers or by society at large, and access to power and influence. It is not easily isolated from other factors such as social position, class background, and age. Transportation is also a ubiquitous part of society that interacts with gender in many different and important ways, though this is a subject that has thus far received very limited attention. Four main topics were identified in the interviews in Study 1. These were road information, personal security, experiences of driving and transport policy goals. Though the presentation of the questionnaire results in Study 2 has been organized around the three main research questions, regarding experiences, preferences and priorities, these topics have also had an important place. A number of hypotheses were formulated in each of these areas. These hypotheses have been tested throughout the presentation of results and, along with the three main research questions, will provide the framework for the final summary and conclusions. As the results indicate, there are some potentially profound differences in how women and men experience road system infrastructure that, if taken into consideration, could change the face of road infrastructure. Furthermore, some groups of individuals (such as older, primary educated, and low income) have experiences of road system infrastructure that resemble women’s. Any changes towards a more gender equal transportation system would therefore satisfy not only women’s values, but also as well all of the men who share such values and experiences. Thus, given women’s more inclusive orientation, an integration of women’s values (seen here in terms of experiences, preferences and priorities) regarding road infrastructure could vastly improve the quality of the road system in Sweden. Given that gender equality is now the sixth goal of transport policy, concrete steps can be taken to integrate some of the results obtained here into actual changes in the transport sector and in supporting more in-depth research. A number of areas that need further analysis have been pointed out in this conclusion and throughout this report. For example, a better understanding of women’s and men’s different relations to driving could be used to develop measures to minimize men’s aggressive tendencies in traffic. The results presented here are a first step in mapping out experiences of road infrastructure which can lead to attaining a transportation system that better satisfies the needs of a variety of users, both women, men, young, old, cyclists, pedestrians, and the handicapped.The overall goal of this project was to identify and propose concrete measures to increase gender equality in the transport sector. The most important difficulty with this project is the complexity that is brought forward in a gender analysis of the transport sector. Gender itself is an incredibly nuanced phenomenon which influences individual identity, social roles, career choices, how one is perceived by one’s peers or by society at large, and access to power and influence. It is not easily isolated from other factors such as social position, class background, and age. Transportation is also a ubiquitous part of society that interacts with gender in many different and important ways, though this is a subject that has thus far received very limited attention. Four main topics were identified in the interviews in Study 1. These were road information, personal security, experiences of driving and transport policy goals. Though the presentation of the questionnaire results in Study 2 has been organized around the three main research questions, regarding experiences, preferences and priorities, these topics have also had an important place. A number of hypotheses were formulated in each of these areas. These hypotheses have been tested throughout the presentation of results and, along with the three main research questions, will provide the framework for the final summary and conclusions. As the results indicate, there are some potentially profound differences in how women and men experience road system infrastructure that, if taken into consideration, could change the face of road infrastructure. Furthermore, some groups of individuals (such as older, primary educated, and low income) have experiences of road system infrastructure that resemble women’s. Any changes towards a more gender equal transportation system would therefore satisfy not only women’s values, but also as well all of the men who share such values and experiences. Thus, given women’s more inclusive orientation, an integration of women’s values (seen here in terms of experiences, preferences and priorities) regarding road infrastructure could vastly improve the quality of the road system in Sweden. Given that gender equality is now the sixth goal of transport policy, concrete steps can be taken to integrate some of the results obtained here into actual changes in the transport sector and in supporting more in-depth research. A number of areas that need further analysis have been pointed out in this conclusion and throughout this report. For example, a better understanding of women’s and men’s different relations to driving could be used to develop measures to minimize men’s aggressive tendencies in traffic. The results presented here are a first step in mapping out experiences of road infrastructure which can lead to attaining a transportation system that better satisfies the needs of a variety of users, both women, men, young, old, cyclists, pedestrians, and the handicapped.