Gendered mobility and unequal access
Urban mobility in Latin American cities is deeply shaped by gender. In addition to work, women’s daily movements are often tied to caregiving and domestic responsibilities, which require multiple short and interconnected trips which are often combined with travelling with babies and children, carrying goods, and/or combining work and household tasks. This creates a more complex and time-intensive mobility pattern compared to men, whose daily travel is typically more direct and linear between home and work.
These patterns are further exacerbated by the limitations of public transport options, which many women depend on but often find unreliable, unsafe, and poorly distributed. At the same time, the growing reliance on private transport prioritises cars over people, increasing congestion and pollution while doing little to address the specific mobility needs of women.
As a result, mobility is not equally experienced. It reflects and reinforces existing social inequalities, where gender plays a key role in shaping who can move freely, safely, and efficiently within the city and who cannot.
