Issues of gender and transport have come to the fore in 2019 as important targets for providing all European citizens with equal access to life opportunities. Studies have shown how travel behaviour patterns of men and women differ and how different access to transport is a major producer of gender inequality. Unfortunately, this has not led to any ground-breaking changes in European transport policies and priorities. Indeed, there are still serious gaps at EU and local levels when it comes to recognition and inclusion of gender aspects in transport strategies, research and innovation. Similar problems apply to transport as a labour market which faces serious gender gaps with women making up only 22% of transport workers in Europe (EuroStat 2017).

Within this context, a very challenging and exciting project officially kicked off in Lisbon on 23 and 24 January 2019!

TInnGO which stands for “Transport Innovation Gender Observatory” – will develop a framework and mechanisms for a sustainable game change in European transport. Led by Coventry University, it gathers 20 partners (7 education research institutes, 4 municipalities and 9 SMEs) from 13 European countries. During 36 months, the consortium will address gender-related contemporary challenges in the transport ecosystem and women’s mobility needs, creating an action plan which considers diversity of different groups. To do so, intersectional analysis will be applied to different types of transport data (legacy and newly generated) to show both inequality and privilege in transport and mobility.

Research and practical knowledge will be collected at national level through mobility hubs and labs.  In fact, 10 hubs will be created covering Sweden/Denmark, UK, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, France, Germany, Romania and Lithuania. Each hub will work with their networks and engage with different stakeholders to evaluate areas of local concern in the transport system.

Finally, a pan-European gender observatory for all materials related to gender and smart mobility will be developed within TInnGO. The aim of the project is to provide a nexus for data collection, analysis, dissemination of gender mainstreaming tools and open innovation.

LGI in the project: We will design and develop the TInnGO observatory and open innovation platform. Also, we will lead the setup of the French mobility hub (based in Paris) and will coordinate all related research activities.

Contact: Esti SANVICENTE