Housing and Physical Infrastructure

Housing

Women’s capacity to afford their own home or to rent privately is determined by their access to paid employment and to social security benefits. Most women live in households with men and resources are shared to an extent, including housing. But because women have lower incomes and lower levels of wealth than men, it is more difficult for women to secure adequate housing on their own.

Gendered expectations around caring responsibilities, with women usually the main – and often the sole – carer of children, means that women face specific challenges in trying to secure accommodation suitable for them and their families. Surrounding infrastructure such as good local transport links, proximity to schools, health centres and supermarkets or grocery shops are all key for women to be able to combine unpaid work with paid employment.

Transport

The gendered division of household labour and caring responsibilities results in women making more encumbered care-related journeys that may require multiple stops. This makes certain transport modes (e.g. cycling, walking or car sharing) unviable for many women and underscores the need for accessible public spaces and transport systems. Narrow or absent pavements, car parking on pavements and the lack of lifts or ramps in transport stations pose barriers for people using wheelchairs and women traveling with a pram, children or older people.

More importantly, transport systems do not adequately enable care-related journeys, as they tend to be built to optimise long distance radial journeys into city centres during peak hours. This model is based on the historic male breadwinner’s work commute from the suburbs into the city centre and continues to reflect men’s travel patterns.

Gendered analysis of housing, transport and surrounding infrastructure is key to ensuring equal access.