Community groups, concerned academics and politicians in the country are now actively seeking solutions. Women are the backbone of economic life in the developing world (the World Bank, yet women are absent from the transport policy-making process). Not only are they absent from the design and management of the transportation system, but they are also excluded from making deployments as user groups.
In the past, less mobility was needed because services were located in or near communities. In the Philippines, no development organization has systematically attempted to integrate women's experiences and knowledge of the transportation system. Three of the participants were recognized community organization leaders, while the rest were members.
Nine of the women in the FGD had jobs outside the home with paid income, while five worked as mothers at home. In another community, Victory Hills, Parang Marikina City, a total of 11 women were FGD participants. One woman wakes up in the early hours of the morning (2:00 a.m.) just to avoid getting caught in traffic.
Unwanted physical contact due to being so physically close, malicious touching of sensitive body parts of female travelers are experiences cited in FGDs. In the daily struggle of public commuters, women have less chances to get a seat in public transport such as the jeepney. Women participating in the FGD said that there are areas where you can see organized queues of travelers taking jeeps.
There are a few who own non-motorized transport, which the male members of the family use to run short-distance errands or to buy necessities at the nearby market. Many of the women grew up without learning to use a bicycle, and almost all of the participants in the discussion had never had any experience of using a bicycle. Then she prepared food for her husband and two other children who go to school in the afternoon.
In the afternoon, Doy repeats her "morning ritual" for her children who attend the afternoon school session. During her free time from school, she would help with the family's laundry as well as in the family's small business. While the clothes are in the washing machine, she will clean the house and look after their small sari-sari shop.
When sales opportunities are few, he will stop playing chess with men in the community.
Victory Hills Community 1 Situationer: Women and transport
Most of the time the jeepney drivers "drive like drug addicts". They drive "like a madman, as if their drive is a trip to heaven." Even if the passengers have not fully disembarked, the drivers have already started moving. There are no modes of public transportation regularly available to take people in and out of the community. The community does not have a proper drainage system, which causes constant flooding in the area.
Water used for washing clothes as well as rainwater flows into residents' homes due to the absence of canals and drainage system. The price of the jeepney ticket is also arbitrary when it comes to passengers with bags and heavy cargo. Only two of the women know how to ride a bike because others were never taught how to ride a bike.
One of the few changes is the improvement of the main road, which made the drive to the community smooth. The improvement of the water drainage, which also had a positive effect on the transport system, was also an effort of the individual residents. Much of the time in the discussion was spent sharing negative experiences about the modes of public transport and the problems experienced by the women in the community.
Tricycles don't want to go into the community because no one will ride on the way out. Women in the Victory Hills community believe that the safety and interests of passengers, especially young children, are not even on the minds of many drivers. This causes overcharging and dishonesty on the part of drivers and anger and frustration on the part of public drivers.
Travel time on Monday, the day the flag is raised, is two hours, but on other days travel time is typically a minimum of three hours due to heavy traffic. She said the co-op is seriously considering providing loans for jeepneys, as the "regular limit" (or rent for using the jeepney) could mean additional income for co-op members. In Victory Hills, she has to walk nearly a mile to the jeepney terminal outside the community.
Since the water supply in the community is rationed, according to Lita, the residents have to adapt their household tasks to the availability of water. In the afternoon, Lita attends meetings of the community organization to discuss land ownership issues of the residents of Victory Hills.
Concluding Notes
The roads in the two low-income communities are unpaved and lack adequate drainage (4.8,5.1) On the surface, this appears to be a major mobility problem. Therefore, research on the relationship between drinking water, sanitation and drainage is essential for future research. Women in the two urban poor communities are dependent on walking and riding on public transport, particularly jeepneys, tricycles and non-motorised pedicabs.
Since their communities are not on the regular routes of public transportation jeepneys, women are burdened with having to pay expensive fares for tricycles that charge irregular amounts for rides to and from the women's homes. Although these concerns have become common in the lives of public commuters in the Philippines, this research has been able to document them in detail from the eyes of the common public commuter who is clamoring for action to change this situation. In order to clarify the conditions in local communities, municipalities as well as in cities, the call for this exploratory research is to push for a more systematic research agenda - using a gender analysis framework that can deepen and delve into the gender dimensions in transport.
The database that will emerge from this research agenda should also see the connections between these three factors within the larger social, economic, political and environmental context, in the way opportunities and constraints unfold as a result of these connections. Issues and concerns about how these linkages can ensure equal opportunities and treatment for women would be expected from this initial research agenda. How can user groups from the marginalized sector, especially women in communities, be involved in the planning process.
How can a space be opened to articulate the public interest and mobility needs of the poor and women, who are more often not represented in political processes. Thus, it would also be important to support pilot initiatives on the ground or community-based initiatives to mainstream gender analysis in the transport sector. This would mean providing support to develop the institutional capacity of community organizations as well as local governments to address the above transport concerns and issues.
A reasonable starting point is to build a political base for more sustainable, gender-sensitive and equitable plans. This would mean the inclusion of representatives of women's organizations, public transport commuters and the inclusion of pedestrian voices in the planning process and transport policy debates. A widely accepted axiom in the Filipino people's vibrant movement, as well as in the international development community, is that if plans are developed with the support of key elements in society, then the pool of such plans will expand and the likelihood of their implementation is . not only did it improve, but it became more meaningful.
