Overview of the issue

Gendered mobilities: women’s safety and public transport

The #MeToo movement (metoomvmt.org, 2023) was started by US activist Tarana Burke in 2006, to support survivors of sexual violence, and it came to prominence in 2017, following allegations of sexual harassment by TV producer Harvey Weinstein. While the movement has shone a light on sexual harassment in the workplace and on university campuses, less has been written about sexual harassment in public spaces (Ding et al., 2020). Increasing attention is being paid to the gendered aspect of public space (Kelly, 2012, Vera-Gray, 2016; Engender, 2017) and the way in which women experience personal safety. The UK government (2021) defines personal safety as how people experience or perceive risk of harassment, intimidation and unwanted sexual behaviour. Sexual harassment is the most common form of VAWG (House of Commons, 2018) and some argue that it represents a ‘spatial expression of patriarchy’ (Valentine, 1992: 24). A study by UN Women (2021) found that 71% of women of all ages and 86% of young people aged 18-24 had experienced some form of sexual harassment in a public space. An Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (ONS, 2022) found that 27% of women in the UK had experienced at least one form of harassment in the previous 12 months.

Access to public transport is key to being able to participate fully in society (House of Commons, 2018). Scotland’s NTS2 recognises that women have different mobility patterns than men: women use public transport more and their journeys tend to be more complex due to women often combining roles as unpaid carers with uneven work patterns and ‘multi-purpose’ trips involving childcare, shopping etc (Transport Scotland, 2020). The term ‘transit captive’ (Yu and Smith 2014), has been adopted to recognise the fact that many women have no other choice but to use public transport.

A UK Government report cited public transport as being a ‘hotspot’ for sexual harassment and described is as being a ‘crime attractor’ for sex offenders (House of Commons, 2018). Sexual harassment in public spaces can be verbal, non-verbal or physical (Ceccato and Loukaitou-Sideris, 2022). A recent campaign by Transport for London (Intelligent Transport, 2021) highlighted common examples of sexual harassment on public transport including cat calling, exposing, cyber-flashing, pressing, touching, staring and up skirting. The most common forms of unwanted behaviours on public transport include staring, intimidatingly, sitting or standing needlessly close to someone and verbal abuse (Suzy Lamplugh Trust, 2021). A 2021 survey found that 88% of respondents in the UK had experienced some form of unwanted behaviour on public transport in the past 5 years and 95% of respondents had experienced some unwanted behaviour on public transport in their lifetime (Suzy Lamplugh Trust, 2021). A survey by Transport Scotland (2022) found that 33% of women surveyed were concerned about personal safety on public transport and 14% had experienced harassment on public transport in Scotland, compared to 9% of men.

Perceptions of crime

Even though women are more likely to walk and take public transport (Transport Scotland, 2023; ONS, 2021), a survey by ONS (2021) found that nearly 50% of women feel unsafe while doing so. For females aged 16 to 34, the figure is higher at 60%. Similarly, a survey by Centre for London (2019) found that women were twice as likely as men to cite personal safety as being a barrier to walking and using public transport. Indeed, a report by Transport Scotland (2023) looking at women’s experiences of personal safety on public transport found that almost all women surveyed reported feeling unsafe ‘very often’ or ‘always’ when using public transport. The report found that perceptions of crime were influenced by media stories of attacks on women, word of mouth and the general reputation of areas (Transport Scotland, 2023). Studies have shown that the fear of sexual harassment is omnipresent across different cultural contexts also. A study of 13,323 university students across eighteen global cities spanning six continents found that the fear of sexual harassment impacted on behaviour and mobility patterns on public transport (Ceccato and Loukaitou-Sideris, 2022). Female students felt more unsafe on public transport compared their male counterparts across all eighteen cites (Ceccato and Loukaitou-Sideris, 2022). A survey by YouGov (2021) found that 89% of women felt that tougher sentencing for sexual harassment, sexual assault and domestic violence would be the most effective strategy in making women feel safe. Second and third most effective strategies were making the police take reports of sexual harassment more seriously and better lit streets.

While men are more likely to be victims of crime on public transport (Smith 2008; Hsu 2011), women feel more fear of crime. Three possible explanations have been put forward to explain this paradox (Vera-Gray, 2016; Vera-Gray, 2023). Firstly, women, unlike men, are socialised to embrace vulnerability and are more likely to report a fear of crime (Vera-Gray, 2016). Secondly the fear of sexual assault is particular to women and is often under-reported (Gekoski et al., 2015). The third explanation relates to how crimes are defined, the unwanted attention and everyday sexism that women experience is often normalised and not labelled as a crime (Vera-Gray, 2016). Vera-Gray (2023) offers a fourth explanation, suggesting that the fear of crime influences women’s behaviour, which in turn reduces the ‘amount’ of crime they experience. What is evident is that fears about safety influence women’s decisions around travel (Gardner et al., 2017; Engender, 2017).

A report by Transport for West Midlands (2022) found that limited transport options impacted on women taking up job and training opportunities and that concern for safety was a significant barrier. It calculated that 3.7% of GDP could be lost because of women’s fears in accessing employment. However, studies also show that technology helps enhance the feeling of safety (Maxwell et al., 2020). A study by Transport Scotland (2023), looking at women’s experiences of safety on public transport found that women felt vulnerable if they did not have access to their smartphone during travelling, particularly where there was no phone signal. Women often sat next to charging points and chose to share their journey with friends and family. A study by TravelWatch (2021) found that London commuters wanted to see an available panic button to alert drivers to crimes, better Wi-Fi to be able to report crimes, better CCTV and a purpose-built app to report crime.

The underreporting of crime

Sexual harassment on public transport is often under-reported (Gekoski et al., 2015). A survey by Centre for London (2019) found that that almost half of women who had experienced sexual harassment on public transport did not report it. A similar study found that only 14% of respondents had reported incidents of sexual harassment on public transport to the police (Suzy Lamplugh Trust, 2021). Several reasons appear to contribute to this underreporting: the transitory nature of public transport (TravelWatch, 2021; Lewis et al., 2021), the ebb and flow of passengers (Lewis et al., 2021), a lack of awareness of how to report (Transport Scotland, 2023; TravelWatch, 2021; Transport for West Midlands, 2022), a feeling that reporting would not result in any action (Transport Scotland, 2023; TravelWatch, 2021; Transport for West Midlands, 2022) and the unwillingness of bystanders to react (Lewis et al., 2021; TravelWatch 2021). Ding et al (2020) found that social and cultural pressures, embarrassment and not wanting to be re-traumatised in court prevented women from reporting sexual crimes. Transport Scotland (2023:45), found that women did not report verbal abuse because it was deemed to be ‘normal’ or ‘not serious enough’. A report by TravelWatch (2021) found that 64% of passengers would feel more comfortable reporting crimes if they had more information about how to do so.

While there are mechanisms to report crime via apps, websites, through the British Transport Police (BtP) etc, a report by Transport for West Midlands, (2022) found that there was no joined up approach across different modes of transport and a lack of systematic capturing of reporting, which led to underreporting (Transport for West Midlands, 2022). A related issue was that data was not shared across local authorities and the report recommended the need for ‘a national intelligence database’ across all modes of transport. Underreporting, as well as underestimating crime statistics, makes planning interventions more challenging (Gekoski et al., 2015, International Transport Forum, 2018).

Travel adaptations: embodied safety work

The fear of crime leads to women adopting ‘restrictive, avoidance-type behaviours’ (Maxwell et al., 2020) where they modify appearance or behaviours on public transport (Gardner, Cui, & Coiacetto, 2017; Engender, 2017). In terms of appearance, women make themselves less visible by wearing sunglasses or headphones (Transport Scotland, 2023), looking down (Dhillon & Bakaya, 2014) or wearing clothes that do not attract unwanted attention (Stark & Meschik, 2018). Women adapt behaviours by sitting near the driver (Transport Scotland, 2023), choosing to sit away from others (Lewis, 2018) or by sitting near other women (Hsu, 2011). Similarly, women adopt time and space-based avoidance strategies (Ding et al., 2020): only travelling at certain times, not travelling alone (Dhillon & Bakaya, 2014) or choosing particular routes (Lewis, 2018). These strategic choices to mitigate against harassment have been termed ‘safety work’ (Kelly, 2012). These habits become ‘embodied principles’ (Vera-Gray, 2023: 136) that are invisible and unconscious. This ‘safety work’ has an economic impact also, where women often rely on more expensive forms of transport like taxis etc (Infante-Vargas & Boyer, 2022; Transport Scotland, 2023).

It is important to note that personal safety is not universal, it means different things for different women (Vera-Gray, 2023). Both the perception of safety, and the ‘safety work’ that women engage in, are influenced by intersecting characteristics such as age, class, income, sexuality, ethnicity, disability, socio-economic status etc, which impact on how women experience public transport (Engender, 2017). While sexual harassment affects most women, not all women are affected in the same way. LGBTQ+ groups (Suzy Lamplugh Trust, 2021), younger women (Transport Scotland, 2023; ONS, 2021), ethnic minority women (Transport Scotland, 2023) and disabled people (Transport Scotland, 2023; ONS, 2021) have an increased sense of fear in public spaces. Studies by Transport Scotland, (2023) and ONS (2021) found that disabled people felt less safe than non-disabled people on public transport in the UK. A report by Suzy Lamplugh Trust (2021) found that the proportion of respondents who had experienced unwanted behaviours in the past five years was higher among LGBTQ+ respondents and a Transport Scotland (2023) study found that Black and ethnic minority groups were more likely to report verbal abuse.