Ms Rachel Cahill:

I am head of TII’s chief executive office and I am joined by my colleague, Mr. Eimear Fox, TII landscape architect. I thank the committee for inviting me here today to discuss TII’s Travelling in a Woman’s Shoes report.

As the committee will be aware, TII’s purpose is to provide sustainable transport infrastructure and services, delivering a better quality of life, supporting economic growth and respecting the environment. TII’s vision is to ensure this infrastructure is safe and resilient, delivering better accessibility and sustainable mobility for all. The transition to sustainable transport modes will require extensive new infrastructure and efforts to change travel behaviours. Key to achieving this change is understanding travel behaviours and ways to influence the modal shift from private cars to more sustainable forms of transport. I believe TII’s Travelling in a Woman’s Shoes report is an innovative and very important piece of work in this regard, not only in terms of TII’s transport infrastructure projects, for example, Luas Finglas and MetroLink, but also for the wider transport sector and for all of society.

I would like to take a minute to provide some context around how this report came to life. There were three contributory factors which coincided in 2019. First, I became involved in TII’s sustainable mobility work stream in 2018 and, as part of this, I attended the 2019 International Transport Forum summit in Leipzig. This included a session on gender bias in transport and explained how, historically, transport has not been designed with the needs of women in mind. The research presented that day had a powerful impact on me. Second, the Government launched its 2019 climate action plan, which gave a strong mandate to all public sector bodies to step up and act decisively in the area of decarbonisation with a big focus on promoting and influencing the modal shift away from private cars to more sustainable forms of transport. Third, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform launched its 2019 innovation programme promoting innovation across the public sector.

These three factors culminated in me commissioning this innovative study regarding women’s travel needs in Ireland to inform and influence future sustainable transport policy and design. The study got under way in late 2019 and it resulted in the publication of the Travelling in a Woman’s Shoes report in 2020.

Transport is often seen as gender neutral, providing benefit to all equally. However, a growing body of international research highlights that this is not the case. Women and men have different mobility realities. Women tend to have more complex patterns of mobility characterised by trip chaining and caregiving responsibilities. Understanding and supporting women’s travel needs will help Ireland’s transition to sustainable modes of transport.

As the first study to investigate the needs and travel behaviours of women in Ireland, our research gave fresh, new insights. Some 84% of women in families take on the sole or primary responsibility for childcare and 30% of women provide primary care for another adult. Dropping off and collecting children or family members is women’s primary reason for travel, while men’s is work. For women in Ireland, safety is their top travel concern. Some 55% avoid public transport at night, 36% feel unsafe walking locally at night, and 34% have avoided travelling altogether because of feelings of insecurity.

A single incident often has a lasting impact on their sense of safety and daily choices. A total of 95% of women consider the car a necessity outside Dublin. Some reasons for this relate to transport infrastructure, caregiving responsibilities and personal safety concerns. Travelling in a Woman’s Shoes presents five key design challenges and the research conducted as part of the study, especially the research into the everyday lived experiences of women obtained through one-to-one interviews and travelling with them as they went about their daily business, produced rich insights that developed into potential and possible pathways to address these challenges.

As for how TII is applying the findings from Travelling in a Woman’s Shoes, this is really the start of a journey. In 2021, we developed and published a gender checklist for TII’s public transport projects and are now applying this to projects such as Luas Finglas and MetroLink. This document, which is available to view on our publications website, asks a number of thought-provoking questions and provides guidance in many areas, including collecting gender-disaggregated data; incorporating social sustainability and gender equality objectives in documentation, from procurement through to design and operation; co-designing projects with women and consulting diverse voices for more inclusive transport; and designing for gender equality, such as step-free travel, toilet facilities, holding rails for children, comfortable seating, lighting, signage, child-friendly spaces and shelter. We have also recently tendered for additional research regarding women and cycling and are sponsoring a school project that examines independent travel for young people and children.

When I started this project, one of the key objectives was to bring this topic to the table, to educate and to build awareness. Since publication, we have connected with many stakeholders, on both a national and international level. In my view, this committee is the table to have this conversation. It sends a strong and powerful message to all involved in policy, planning and design, not just in transport but throughout society.

I thank the committee for inviting me here. My colleague Ms Fox and I will endeavour to answer any questions that members may have.