Advancing Gender-Inclusive Urban Mobility: MobiliseYourCity at the OECD Dialogue on Gender Equality

On 1 October 2025, leaders, policymakers, and advocates from across Africa and Europe gathered at the OECD Headquarters in Paris for the inaugural Africa–Europe Dialogue on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, jointly convened by AUDA-NEPAD and the OECD Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC). The dialogue sought to move beyond rhetoric, fostering collaboration between governments, development institutions, civil society, and the private sector to turn shared challenges into actionable cooperation.  

Despite notable progress, participants acknowledged that women and girls in both regions continue to face systemic barriers to leadership, financial inclusion, reproductive health, and safety. These inequalities, though differing in scale and context, offer fertile ground for mutual learning, innovation, and collective action. 

Gender, Mobility, and Economic Autonomy 

A highlight of the event was Panel 2: Gender, Mobility and Economic Empowerment: Designing Inclusive Transport Systems, moderated by Marie Trémolières (OECD/SWAC) with a presentation by Jennifer Sheahan (OECD/SWAC) and contributions from Clara Delavallade (World Bank), Joanna Skrzypek (DG MOVE, European Commission), Carine Assaf (MobiliseYourCity), and Rose Wardini (former presidential candidate, Senegal). The discussion examined how inclusive, safe, affordable, and accessible transport systems can reduce gender disparities and serve as catalysts for women’s empowerment, fostering equality and economic independence across regions.  

The discussion went further, emphasizing the need to move beyond data collection to truly understand who can move, how, and under what conditions. It is not just about counting trips, but about recognizing the social realities shaping mobility, how gender roles, time constraints, and safety perceptions influence how women move through cities. 

MobiliseYourCity’s Contribution 

The MobiliseYourCity Partnership joined the dialogue to share its experience supporting cities worldwide in developing gender-responsive Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs). The Partnership stressed that mobility is not gender neutral: women and men move differently in cities, shaped by distinct social roles and norms, responsibilities, and safety concerns.  

Drawing on its recently published Topic Guide on Mainstreaming Gender in SUMPs, co-developed with TUMI, Women Mobilise Women, and HEAT, MobiliseYourCity presented practical strategies to make urban mobility more inclusive—from collecting gender-disaggregated data and conducting participatory mapping to improving safety, accessibility, and affordability. 

These include: 

• Collecting gender-disaggregated data to reveal travel patterns often overlooked by traditional surveys. The guide emphasizes that cities need to collect gender-disaggregated mobility data. Without it, women’s trip patterns, such as off-peak travel or combining multiple destinations in a single journey, remain invisible. Alongside quantitative data, the guide also points to qualitative methods such as focus groups, participatory mapping, and mobility audits, which are powerful tools to identify barriers, such as unsafe streets, poorly lit paths, or bus stops where women feel exposed. These approaches make women’s experiences visible and actionable. Applying qualitative methods such as focus groups, participatory mapping, and mobility audits to uncover hidden barriers like unsafe routes or poorly lit stations. 

• Implementing safety and accessibility measures. The guide provides clear examples of how infrastructure can be improved: better lighting along pedestrian routes, transparent and open station designs, and on-demand bus stops at night so women can get off closer to their homes. Accessibility measures also make a significant difference. Since women's trips often occur outside traditional rush hours, public transport must run frequently and reliably throughout the day. 

• Reforming service design and affordability. Affordability is a key issue, as women are often overrepresented in lower-income groups. The guide notes that fare structures and subsidies directly affect women's access to jobs, healthcare, and education. Some SUMP processes supported by MobiliseYourCity explicitly considered fare structures, ensuring services were not only accessible but also financially feasible for women. 

Real-world examples illustrate these measures in practice. In Medan (Indonesia), gender-disaggregated data revealed disparities in driving license ownership, showing that women rely more on public transport. This insight informed the city's SUMP priorities, despite the fact that both women and men have equal access to obtaining a driving license. 

Governance, Participation, and Accountability 

Governance and participation are another area where the guide provides concrete examples. It recommends including gender experts or focal points in planning teams and requiring consultants to demonstrate gender expertise in their terms of reference. Some cities supported by MobiliseYourCity have introduced gender-sensitive indicators into their monitoring frameworks.  For instance, tracking the percentage of women using public transport or measuring levels of perceived safety disaggregated by gender. These indicators make gender outcomes visible and measurable, ensuring accountability. In Ambato (Ecuador), the city established a set of gender-specific indicators to monitor its progress over multiple timeframes. The planning team created a baseline in 2021 and set review points extending to 2043. Key indicators include: 

• Increasing the percentage of trips made by women using public transport from 45% in 2021 to 60% by 2043. 

• Reducing the percentage of women with travel times over 45 minutes from 17% in 2021 to 10% by 2043. 

What makes SUMPs especially powerful is their integrated, long-term, and participatory approach. They help cities align gender equality with broader sustainability goals, ensuring that transport systems become greener, more accessible, and more equitable. 

MobiliseYourCity has been instrumental in advancing this agenda globally, supporting 81 cities and 16 countries. The Gender Topic Guide draws on experiences from 22 cities, including in-depth studies in eight, showcasing real-world solutions for integrating gender considerations into mobility planning. By sharing methodologies, examples, and lessons learned, the Partnership enables cities to design transport systems that are not only efficient but also inclusive. 

To conclude, mainstreaming gender in mobility planning is not about creating a separate “women’s project”. It means embedding gender awareness across every stage of the planning process, from diagnosis and policy design to implementation and monitoring. The guide highlights practical measures such as safer pedestrian routes, on-demand bus stops, inclusive vehicle design, affordable fares, and participatory governance mechanisms. These examples show that gender-responsive planning is both achievable and impactful. 

As underscored during the discussions in Paris, inclusive mobility is both a question of fairness and a foundation for stronger, more sustainable societies. Through initiatives like the Africa–Europe Dialogue and ongoing work under the MobiliseYourCity Partnership, cities are charting a new course, one where mobility empowers all and gender equality drives progress.