|  Successful transport projects do more than simply building roads: they make sure that whole communities benefit from better access to transport services. This includes women, who have transport needs and burdens different from men.
Transport offers a striking illustration of the interdependence between public policy and household economics, and the associated time problem for women. Studies in the 1990s indicate that women in sub-Saharan Africa transport more on their heads in volume than is transported in vehicles. Time spent by an average household on domestic transport activities can range up to almost 1500 hours per year, which translates into over 35 days a year for women. Inadequate transport can have dire consequences for women. Every year, 527,000 women in developing countries die of pregnancy-related omplications and nearly four million children die during their first month. Yet, 75 per cent of maternal deaths might be prevented through timely access to essential emergency childbirth-related care. Transport and road infrastructure could play a key role in accessing the required health care. Supporting the Gender Action Plan  The World Bank Transport Sector has actively engaged with Gender issues for the past 10 years. There have been many successes and much has been learnt about good practice for interventions. However, the outcomes have generally been disappointing in terms of scaling up. PREM Gender and the Sustainable Development Network Vice Presidency have therefore joined efforts to support the implementation of the new Gender Action Plan in the infrastructure sector.
“The merger of ESSD and INF networks and the new SDN Vice Presidency provides an opportunity to bring the social and transport networks together upstream—not at the eleventh hour, so that transport operations can be more socially and environmentally responsive,” said Maryvonne Plessis-Fraissard, Director, SDNVP. Caroline Kende-Robb, Sector Manager, SDV, stressed that to make this collaboration successful, SDN will need to address three specific areas in their operations: inclusive growth with social responsibility, achieving the Millennium Development Goals and enhancing equal employment opportunities and access of women and vulnerable groups to infrastructure and its services. “Transport is not just about roads; it is about development for people with different needs and access,” she remarked. Listening to women’s voices in transport projects The consideration of gender in the transport sector is essential to ensure that transport is equitable and affordable. It must also provide access to the resources and opportunities required for development. Dominique Lallement, Consultant, MNSSD, recently visited Liberia to assess women’s participation infrastructure projects. Her conclusions provided a framework for the critical role of infrastructure in the implementation of Gender Action Plan. Reducing child mortality and improving maternal health are two of the Millennium Development Goals. The Transport for Social Responsibility group has shown how transport and road infrastructure can help achieve those goals by improving the delivery and access to effective child and maternal health services. In China, consultations with women as well as men informed the re-design of the Liaong Urban Transport Project. Women’s inputs changed the initial project design, incorporating secondary road repairs, street lights and pedestrian access to improve mobility and safety of all road users, especially women and children. In Yemen, strong participation and interest of women in roads projects resulted in changes to address safety concerns such as speed bumps in school areas. By reducing isolation, the project has improved livelihoods and access to health services and education. Empowering women and girls’ access In rural Nepal where isolation problems are severe, school enrolment decreases as people live further away from the roads. This lack of infrastructure affects adolescent girls significantly more than boys. The Bangladesh Second Rural Roads and Market Project is a success story. It used affirmative action to reserve 30 percent of the road construction jobs, market management committee positions, and shops for women. Furthermore, all road-side tree plantation and maintenance work was given to women. The project facilitated the creation of women’s trader associations, labor contracting societies, and provision of savings and revolving loan funds for road rehabilitation. “This project provided women the opportunity to access labor, product, and financial markets for their own economic empowerment, where previously women had to remain within the household without any income,” said Nilufar Ahmad, Sr. Social Scientist, SASDS.
The Peru Rural Road project also had broad social impacts in terms of democracy, civil engagement and social inclusion.
"Success resulted from highlighting gender equity in the overall project goal, including women perspectives through consultations from the very beginning of the project and along all the components, prompting income-generating opportunities in road maintenance microenterprises for rural women through affirmative action while breaking stereotypes, and finally, fostering a culture of inclusion in the transport agency," said Luz Caballero, Transport Unit, LAC, and Nerida Aucahusi, Gender Focal Point of Provias Decentralizado. Next steps At a roundtable on Mainstreaming Social & Gender Dimensions in Transport Program, transport, social development and gender specialists discussed the social and gender dimensions in transport operations, and recommend taking the following steps: include a dedicated social scientists with gender and transport expertise in transport teams; report regularly gender mainstreaming progress to the Transport Sector Board; include performance indicators on gender mainstreaming in Implementation Status and Results; monitor the needs and impacts of gender mainstreaming in transport; develop a Gender and Transport Learning Agenda, including transport training for social scientist, guidelines for regional and country-level social and gender dimensions and checklist on how transport can facilitate achieving MDG3; document and disseminate good practices on mainstreaming gender in transport operations.
Access Roundtable on Mainstreaming Social and Gender Dimensions in Transport Programs: Moving the Agenda Forward | 
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