The London Docklands also encountered difficulties employing female clerical and secretarial labour because of poor quality public transport. And also because of the absence of local shopping facilities.
Women’s employment is typically closer to the home and requires less business travel. Thus women’s paid work generates shorter trips and greater dependence on public transport than men’s paid work (Turner and Niemeier). Part of the reason why “women’s work is never done” is due to the fact that it is interrupted so often. Women combine commutes to work with trips to the dry-cleaners, grocery store, day-care centre whilst men just commute from home to work and back again with no interruptions. The fact that wives and mothers make more trips, but fewer miles than husbands and fathers suggests that women are running more errands closer to home. Women therefore need more travel flexibility than men.
Women’s main concern in London is that they are not safe using public transport. This has been concluded from a survey of women’s travel needs in London (‘Women on the Move’ survey)-Commissioned by the GLC between 1984 and 1986.
Women’s views on their safety, whilst travelling, or walking around London, vary according to the method of travel and time of day by various age groups.
Table 1: Proportion of women feeling safe travelling during the day by age group:
Source: Women on the Move
The table above shows that women in all age groups feel safer travelling by bus during the day than walking around. Underground and British rail are considered to be similar to one another in terms of their perceived safety. They are seen as being much less safe than walking-even during the day.
Table 2: Proportion of women feeling safe travelling during the night by age group:
Source: Women on the Move
A different picture emerges at night. Within age group 20-54 yrs, there is some variation, with women aged between 35-54 feeling more safer than women aged 20-34. As you can see from table 2, these percentages are a whole lot lower than in table 1. Women just do not feel safe using public transport or walking at night.
Comparing how safe women feel after dark with that of men shows that women are more vulnerable.
Table 3: Proportion of men and women feeling unsafe in Islington: Feeling unsafe travelling after dark
Source: Islington Crime Survey
Transport is a key to providing access to jobs, to facilities, to social and recreational opportunities. Restraint on travel limits participation in society and adversely effects women’s quality of life. Women have fear of assult, attack, harassment and verbal abuse-this all influences on travel decisions, particularly at night.
Women need the flexibility that a car offers in order to reach work on time and to run errands. Cars also allow women some control over whom they come into contact with, thus enhancing their sense of safety. Also cars are being manufactured so as to suit the needs as women-minivans are being manufactured which holds the several children in addition to grocery and pets. Cars also save time-women don’t have to rely on the delays of public transport and so they can get more of their work done efficiently. If more women had access to cars they would be more independent and have more of a chance in getting paid work-this would change the status of women’s careers and role.