Is There a Feminist Method Applied to Transportation Planning?: Revealing Women's Invisibility in Urban Mobility.

This critical analysis delves into Sandra Harding's article "Is there a feminist method?" to address the incorporation of gender perspectives in mobility studies and transportation planning. The central thesis posits that women's mobility experiences are often overlooked, leading to inadequate policies that fail to address their specific needs. By examining the intersection of gender and mobility and Harding's postulates, this article aims to reflect on the gender inequalities perpetuated by current transportation systems and advocate for a more inclusive approach to urban planning, one that includes women's experiences and voices not only as passengers, users, and cyclists, but also as urban mobility planners.

Sandra Harding's exploration of feminist methodologies invites a critical reflection on the absence of gender perspectives in traditional social science research. Building upon Harding's ideas, this critical reflection seeks to apply a feminist epistemological lens to the study of mobility, highlighting women's overlooked experiences in transportation planning and challenging dominant narratives that prioritize male experiences, towards a more inclusive and gender-sensitive approach.

Harding's discussion on the limitations of traditional research methodologies resonates in the field of urban mobility studies, where women's experiences are often marginalized or ignored, and their active participation as planners is also limited due to the transportation sector being highly male-dominated. As Harding points out, "women have always resisted male domination" (p. 5), yet their voices remain largely absent in discussions on transportation planning.

This "androcentric" view of transportation planning has disregarded the characterization of travel patterns related to women's trips: multi-stop, commuting, difficult to quantify, and related to caregiving responsibilities. In 2009, Spanish urbanist Inés Sánchez de Madariaga recognized these travel patterns under the concept of "Care Mobility," which encompasses all trips made to attend caregiving responsibilities and sustain life (Sánchez de Madariaga, 2020). These "androcentric standards" (Harding, p. 4) have reinforced that only this androcentric view, until very recently, has been the backbone of urban mobility planning.

Furthermore, women's invisibility in urban mobility planning reflects a broader pattern of gender inequalities perpetuated by urban infrastructures designed without considering women's diverse needs and experiences (Harding, p.7), often associated with caregiving responsibilities.

Moreover, Harding's critique of traditional methodologies highlights the importance of recognizing the intersectionality of gender with other social categories (class, race, culture) in mobility studies. As Harding argues, "feminist researchers have argued that traditional theories have been applied in ways that hinder the understanding of women's participation in social life" (p. 8). By acknowledging the complex interaction of gender, race, class, and other identities in shaping mobility experiences, planners can develop more comprehensive and inclusive approaches to transportation planning and avoid deepening gender inequalities in urban space and transportation.

Gender, intersectionality, and mobility underscore the need for a paradigm shift in transportation planning. Public policies, oriented towards the dominant subject, males, fail to address the specific challenges women face in their daily mobility. As Harding argues, "those who do not actively fight against the exploitation of women in everyday life are unlikely to produce social science research that is not distorted by sexism" (p. 12). By neglecting the gender dimensions of mobility, current policies contribute to reproducing inequalities that disproportionately affect women and those who are their caregivers.

Additionally, Harding's emphasis on the need for feminist-inspired challenges to traditional social research resonates with the call for transformative change in mobility policies. As Harding points out, "the extraordinary explanatory power of feminist research findings in social sciences results from feminist challenges to the grand theories and background assumptions of traditional social research" (p. 3). By challenging existing power structures and advocating for gender-sensitive policies, transportation planners contribute to dismantling systemic inequalities inherent in gendered transportation systems.

To continue the reflection and in relation to the incorporation of women's voices/experiences in mobility studies, to address such invisibility, it is essential to incorporate their voices and experiences in transportation studies at all stages: from pre-feasibility, design, and implementation of projects. By centering women's narratives on mobility, planners can gain valuable insights into the unique challenges and barriers women face in accessing transportation networks. As Harding suggests, feminist research should challenge the grand theories and assumptions of traditional social research to produce more inclusive and nuanced analyses (p. 12).

Why apply feminist epistemologies in transportation planning?

In her exploration of feminist methodologies, Harding emphasizes the need for feminist epistemologies to challenge traditional research paradigms and promote more inclusive knowledge production. She also argues that feminist epistemologies are necessary to reveal the biases and assumptions inherent in existing research frameworks. As she asserts, "the vision available to the oppressed group must be fought for and represents an achievement that requires both sciences to see beneath the surface of the social relations in which all are forced to participate" (p. 12). By centering marginalized voices and perspectives, feminist epistemologies disrupt the status quo and offer alternative ways of understanding social phenomena, including characterizing travel patterns and urban planning.

Furthermore, Harding's central idea applied to mobility planning underscores the importance of incorporating feminist epistemologies to address gender inequalities inherent in transportation systems. By using a feminist lens to develop urban mobility studies and analysis, engineers and other professionals can uncover hidden power dynamics and structural barriers that shape women's diverse urban mobility experiences. Harding's call to challenge existing power structures and underlying assumptions aligns with the need to reassess traditional approaches to transportation planning. As she points out, "the issue here is not so much the right to claim a label but the prerequisites for producing less biased and distorted descriptions, explanations, and understandings" (p. 12). It is through feminist epistemologies that deeper insights can be developed, prioritizing gender equity and social justice in urban planning initiatives.

In conclusion, Sandra Harding's reflections on feminist methodologies provide a compelling framework for reassessing the gender dimensions of mobility. By acknowledging women's invisibility in transportation planning and advocating for a more inclusive approach, those who plan and design transportation systems can contribute to the development of policies that address women's diverse needs in public spaces and transportation. By integrating feminist perspectives into mobility studies and challenging traditional methodologies, we contribute to creating more accessible and gender-sensitive transportation systems. Looking ahead, there is a clear obligation to prioritize gender perspectives in mobility studies to create more inclusive, equitable transportation systems and achieve real social change in how people move. Harding's work serves as a reminder of the transformative potential of feminist epistemologies to reshape knowledge production and promote social justice agendas in various fields, including urban planning and mobility studies.

References

- Harding, S. (1987). Introduction, Is there a feminist method? En S. Harding (Ed.), Feminism & methodology: Social science issues (pp. 1-14). Indiana University Press

- Sánchez de Madariaga, I., & Zucchini, E. (2020). "Movilidad del cuidado" en Madrid: nuevos criterios para las políticas de transporte. Ciudad y territorio, 89-102.