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 looked for solutions to reduce gender inequality in public transport and shared mobility, during the academic year 2023-2024 and on behalf of the Federal Public Service Mobility.

…to solution!

With SMEP! – Shared Mobility Equity Principles, we challenged 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 could:

  • 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 hosted an online hackathon where students could showcase their skills to help narrow the gender gap in public transportation and shared mobility. They presented their visions to key national and international experts, with the chance to win a prize.

During and after this program, we communicated the problems our students identify and the solutions they proposed to the political level via a blog post, webinars (Mpact sessions) and via the Mpact newsletters. Finally, on 29th of May, we organized an online meeting between the winners of the online hackathon and decision-makers from the three regions in Belgium (WAL, FLA, and BXL). By doing so, we let our students’ voices influence policy and they received direct feedback on their action plans!

The SMEP project ended on April 1st 2024

Interested in the results of this project or do you want to collaborate on the topic of gender equity in mobility?

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