SMEP! – Shared Mobility Equity Principles

From challenge…

Did you know that women have less access to shared mobility than men? Although research on the link between gender and mobility is still young, a growing number of studies show that women use micro mobility less (e-steps, shared bikes) often than men, feel more unsafe on public transport and are underrepresented in the mobility sector. Next to transport poverty, safety risks and emissions, gender inequality is one of the major challenges for our mobility system.

Mpact aims to engage young people in the transition towards more sustainable and shared mobility. After a successful student challenge in 2021 in which we challenged youngsters to make their campuses more accessible, we will, during the academic year 2023-2024 and on behalf of the Federal Public Service Mobility, look for solutions to reduce gender inequality in public transport and shared mobility.

…to solution!

With SMEP! – Shared Mobility Equity Principles, we want to challenge students from Belgian universities and colleges to formulate policy proposals that can make women’s use of public transport and shared mobility more inclusive and equitable. As part of this project, students can:

• Identify issues of gender inequality in shared mobility through a survey and identify what barriers they themselves experience when using shared mobility modes or public transport;
• Participate in interactive guest lectures in which Isobel Duxfield will elaborate on the link between gender and mobility and look for solutions to reduce the gender gap;
• On February 29, 2024, Mpact is hosting an online hackathon where students can showcase their skills to help narrow the gender gap in public transportation and shared mobility. They will present their visions to key national and international experts, with the chance to win a prize. Registrations for the online hackathon will start in December, so mark your calendar for 29/2/2024 already! 😉

During and after this program, we communicate the problems our students identify and the solutions they propose to the political level via a blog post, a webinar (Mpact session) and via the Mpact newsletters. By doing so, we let our students’ voices influence policy!

Interested in this project?

Don’t hesitate to contact our colleagues who are working on this topic at Mpact.

See you soon!

Esen (NL/EN) – hackathon, guest lectures: Esen.Kose@mpact.be 

Zara (FR/EN) – hackathon, guest lectures: Zara.hublet@mpact.be

Jelten (NL/EN/FR) – literature study: Jelten.Baguet@mpact.be