High Volume Transport

Vital transport research to ensure accessible, affordable and climate friendly transport for all.

Spotlight on: Gender

As we near the end of the HVT programme, we’ve been reflecting on the key themes of our work with stakeholders in the programme.

First, it’s Dr Fatima Adamu from Nana Girls and Women Empowerment Initiative in Nigeria, on our work in gender.

When I first got involved with the HVT programme back in 2021, I’d already been working on research and activism for women’s rights for Nigeria for over two decades. I was only too aware that the issue of sexual harassment in public transport in sub-Saharan Africa was getting little to no attention.

There was some much needed literature and research on issues such as early and forced marriage, intimate partner violence and sexual violence but limited attention accorded to the transport space. In fact, the transport sector in Nigeria was completely gender blind, both in terms of policy and practice. Transport was seen as neutral, by the transport operators and professionals, even by policy makers. And because of this neutrality, the needs of women were not factored in.

Using public transport was – and still is – challenging for women. For instance, when women try to get on a public transport vehicle carrying their babies on their back, many operators don’t want to stop for them because they have a heavy load, and they remain at the bus station where they face frequent harassment. Similarly, there are many instances of verbal and physical abuse of female taxi drivers and bus conductors for working in the transport sector.

I was therefore extremely motivated to be invited to join the EMPOWER project where a key element of my work was to establish an evidence base for the extent and nature of sexual harassment and violence against women on public transport in Sub-Saharan Africa.

We need to bridge the gap between transport authorities and transport users and it is thanks to the EMPOWER project that issues like harassment have come out.

One of the biggest challenges is the lack of data. Data on sexual harassment is collected at national level, but there is no data about sexual harassment and transport. What the EMPOWER project did was give us a tool to start collecting the data and allow us to start from somewhere.

Thanks to the HVT project, for the first time in Nigeria, we were able to bring together the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, as well as transport operators to discuss and explore opportunities for collaboration on sexual harassment. Not only were the three actors brought together, but also the idea that there is a connection between sexual harassment and public transport was something that we realised for the first time.

There is so much to be done, but we’ve got started so we can really do something about it. For instance, Nana Girls and Women Empowerment Initiative is currently collaborating with two transport unions – the National Union of Road Transport Workers and the National Association of Road Transport Owners – to develop a guideline for making transport stations safe for women passengers and drivers.