“Public transport a key setting for the prevention of and response to gender-based violence.”
La Trobe researchers have examined public transport service providers’ perspectives on delivering a safe transport system for women.
“Women, trans, gender-diverse and non-binary transport users experience fear and violence when using public transport,” explains lead researcher, Associate Professor Kirsty Forsdike. “Globally, up to 95% of women have experienced some form of unwanted sexual behaviour on public transport.”
Associate Professor Forsdike says that understanding the context in which public transport is delivered is key to an effective solution.
Her research team, including Professor Leesa Hooker and Dr Jess Ison, examined the experiences and views of those working in public transport delivery organisations about the challenges and opportunities to provide safe transport for women.
They found that public transport is delivered by multiple stakeholders, who held differing views on what safety meant. “Some participants focused on making public transport safer for women, whilst others focused on improving women’s perceptions of safety.”
As providers, they often felt powerless to enact change and called for an overarching strategy on women’s safety, including consistent workforce training.
“Our study highlights that it is not just the individual workers driving the trains and buses that need education around sexual assault and harassment,” says Associate Professor Forsdike.
“The leadership of public transport planning and delivery also require education and training about the gendered nature of public transport use and appropriate safety initiatives for women and gender diverse people.”
The research has not stopped there.
The team have now developed a ‘Gender-sensitive training toolkit’ for public transport to guide the design of education and training that can be delivered to providers and their staff.
“The toolkit addresses key findings from the research,” explains Associate Professor Forsdike. “It provides a collective understanding of women, trans, gender-diverse and non-binary transport users’ safety. It also highlights the importance of a gender-lens across policy, planning and delivery.”
The toolkits won Best in Category - Design Strategy at the Victorian Premier’s Design Awards 2023.
“We are extremely proud that our toolkit will guide the design of education and training for providers and their staff,” adds Associate Professor Forsdike.
“We hope that it will ultimately lead to the development of new initiatives that are tested by women using public transport, while also ensuring our public transport frontline workforce are sufficiently prepared to respond.”
