Social Vulnerability in Public Transit: Experiences of Transit-Dependent Women in Portland, Oregon

• In Event: 212 - Section on Inequality, Poverty and Mobility Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Place and Space

Abstract

In urban areas, the inequitable distribution of transit systems sand services has been shown to reproduce safety and environmental risks, while potentially exacerbating preexisting gender and class inequalities. Thus, the study of men’s and women’s access to, and use of, public transportation might be conceptualized as a measure of equality between men and women in society. This paper utilizes focus group data to explore women’s engagement with the public transit system in Portland, Oregon. We illustrate specific ways in which transit-dependent women experience marginalization and exclusion. We find women, particularly mothers with young children, are not well served by a public infrastructure oriented toward an “ideal rider” who is an able-bodied, white, male commuter with disposable income. We argue that a public infrastructure meant to serve all riders equitably, yet fails to consider the unique experiences of low-income women riders, risks further exacerbating these women's social vulnerabilities and reproducing gender, racial, and class inequalities. In this sense, measures of vulnerability are one way in which we examine and illuminate gender relations while uncovering the structures of systems of oppression such as patriarchy, racism, and poverty.

Authors

• Amy Lubitow, Portland State University

• Jennifer Brooke Rainer, George Mason University

• Sasha Bassett, Portland State University