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having regard to Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty on European Union,

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having regard to Articles 4, 8, 10, 19, 91, 153 and 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

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having regard to Articles 21 and 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

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having regard to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) thereof, in particular SDG 5 and its targets and indicators,

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having regard to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women of 18 December 1979,

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having regard to the EU directives from 1975 onwards on various aspects of equal treatment for women and men, including Council Directive 79/7/EEC of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security (1), Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding (2), Council Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004 implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services (3), Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation (4), Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU (5), Directive 2010/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and repealing Council Directive 86/613/EEC (6) and Directive (EU) 2023/970 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms (7) (Pay Transparency Directive),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 17 June 2009 entitled ‘A sustainable future for transport: Towards an integrated, technology-led and user-friendly system’ (COM(2009)0279),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 5 March 2020 entitled ‘A Union of Equality: Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025’ (COM(2020)0152),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 9 December 2020 entitled ‘Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy — putting European transport on track for the future’ (COM(2020)0789),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 14 July 2021 entitled ‘Fit for 55’: delivering the EU’s 2030 Climate Target on the way to climate neutrality’ (COM(2021)0550),

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having regard to the Commission communication of 14 December 2021 on the new EU urban mobility framework (COM(2021)0811),

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having regard to Regulation (EU) 2020/1054 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2020 amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 as regards minimum requirements on maximum daily and weekly driving times, minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods and Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 as regards positioning by means of tachographs (8),

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having regard to its resolution of 11 September 2012 on the role of women in the green economy (9),

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having regard to its resolution of 29 November 2018 on the situation of women with disabilities (10),

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having regard to the EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030,

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having regard to its resolution of 21 January 2021 on the gender perspective in the COVID-19 crisis and post-crisis period (11),

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having regard to its resolution of 21 January 2021 on the EU strategy for gender equality (12),

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having regard to the International Labour Organization (ILO) 2013 Working Paper No 298 entitled ‘Promoting the employment of women in the transport sector — Obstacles and policy options’,

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having regard to its resolution of 6 October 2021 entitled ‘EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030 — Recommendations on next steps towards Vision Zero’  (13),

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having regard to its resolution of 16 February 2023 on developing an EU cycling strategy (14),

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having regard to the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2023,

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having regard to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) 2022 Gender Equality Index,

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having regard to the study of the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs of its Directorate-General for Internal Policies of 16 December 2021 entitled ‘Women and transport’,

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having regard to the Commission report of 14 September 2022 entitled ‘Study on the social dimension of the future EU transport system regarding users and passengers — Final report’,

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having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure,

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having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Transport and Tourism,

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having regard to the report of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A9-0239/2023),

A.

whereas gender equality should be and indeed is a core EU value; whereas gender equality is essential for a prosperous European way of life and for all citizens to be united in diversity; whereas all EU policies should integrate the gender perspective, through gender mainstreaming and gender budgeting; whereas the EIGE highlights specifically that gender mainstreaming should be included in the preparation of all policies and programmes as well as of relevant expenditure outgoings such as infrastructure, noting that the aim of promoting gender equality and combating discrimination should also apply to the transport sector;

B.

whereas on 1 January 2021, there were 229 million women and 219 million men in the European Union (15), a fact that should be reflected in tailored transport policy measures and transport decision-making in every Member State; whereas understanding gender-specific concerns, such as women’s needs and experiences, when assessing the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of transport policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres is necessary so that women, families and households in all their diversity, older people, young people, with disabilities, LGBTIQ+ people, people of colour and other vulnerable groups benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated;

C.

whereas the EIGE highlights specifically that gender mainstreaming should be included in the preparation of all policies and programmes as well as in relevant expenditure such as infrastructure, noting that the aim of promoting gender equality and combating discrimination should also apply to the transport sector;

D.

whereas cities worldwide are pursuing policies to reduce car use and prioritise public transport as a means of tackling congestion, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions; whereas travel time, safety and built environment are considered to be the most critical factors when users choose their travel modes; whereas nevertheless travel time when using public transport is approximately three times longer than when using a private car and is often due to long waiting times for buses or peak hour boarding congestion in metro stations (16);

E.

whereas the COVID pandemic and the related necessary lockdowns demonstrated to people how essential services which are local and equitably available with minimal obstacles are essential to the well-being and health of the whole community, including women, vulnerable groups, families in all their diversity, the younger generation and older people;

F.

whereas research performed across the Member States has shown that gender-based violence in public spaces and on collective transport is a highly significant problem and that safety measures and victim support remain insufficient; whereas, according to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), up to 55 % of women in the European Union have experienced sexual harassment in public transport (17); whereas there are a multitude of reports on sexual assaults carried out in different transport modes, such as by the drivers of ride-hailing platforms and taxis; whereas this can have a negative impact on transport choices, employment, education and social and professional opportunities for women in all their diversity;

G.

whereas ride-hailing and platform transport providers have a responsibility to help keep people safe and it is incumbent on providers to improve safety from a gender perspective; whereas technology can make travel safer for women and girls through the work of safety engineers, including women engineers, who have developed innovative new safety features;

H.

whereas poorly-designed transport policies can exacerbate existing poverty and social exclusion; whereas there continues to be a lack of sex and gender-disaggregated data, as well as of data disaggregated by other socio-economic factors such as income, living arrangements and employment status; whereas there is also still a lack of gender analysis on transport and mobility across the EU, as well as of data disaggregated by other factors such as age; whereas this lack of disaggregated data hinders the implementation of well-targeted gender-responsive and inclusive transport policies for individuals, families and households in all their diversity; whereas gender-disaggregated data would be valuable input for developing a transport policy that adequately addresses gender differences; whereas at present the data available is not always comparable and standardised and cannot be efficiently used; whereas further in-depth research is required on the psychological and social factors that determine women’s specific needs and preferences for the use of modes of transport; whereas more data is needed to clearly distinguish between the barriers and lack of opportunities that prevent women from entering the transport sector and the factors that influence their decision to leave or remain;

I.

whereas the average percentage of women working in the transport sector across the EU stands at around 22 %, with these values varying considerably among transport sub-sectors (land, air, sea) and Member States; whereas women are faced with greater harassment and sexual violence in transport than men, which is likely to be one of the reasons behind women’s limited representation in transport;

J.

whereas adopting a gender-responsive approach to urban planning and performing a gender analysis of transport services are instrumental to improving the quality of life of women in all their diversity; whereas additionally, this approach has the potential to be transformative for all users, including families and households in all their diversity, who will be able to access the opportunities afforded by cities and outermost regions, while at the same time generating wider social, economic and environmental benefits; whereas an improved gender balance and greater diversity and inclusion lead to more diverse workplaces, enhancing the attractiveness of transport jobs and the competitiveness of the transport sector as a whole;

K.

whereas air pollution is responsible for the significant acceleration of osteoporosis in women; whereas women with reduced bone mass and early-onset of osteoporosis are at particular risk of injury on public transport (18);

L.

whereas transport use differs according to gender, as well as other factors, such as complexity, sustainability, frequency, mode, duration, purpose, cost, security accessibility and safety; whereas different genders therefore have different transport needs and requirements, often due to persisting gender stereotypes and inequalities, using public transport and cars in distinct manners; whereas women are more likely to have more complicated travel patterns, choosing public transport more often and making several stops along the way, and are more likely to travel at off-peak hours, in particular because of care responsibilities; whereas men more often opt to use car transport and are more likely to have a direct daily journey route than women, with 31 % of women using public transport compared to 24 % of men (19);

M.

whereas women tend to live longer, which usually means reduced mobility and thus increased difficulties while using transport services;

N.

whereas too little attention is being paid to women’s needs in public transport or infrastructure planning; whereas understanding transport patterns and the mobility of women in all their diversity is fundamental to the development of gender-sensitive transport policies, which should provide an enabling environment for women to share safe, accessible, reliable, sustainable and non-discriminatory modes of transport; whereas women are under-represented as experts and decision-makers in the transport sector and in urban mobility planning;

O.

whereas safe commuting for women transport workers is not always guaranteed, especially when they start their work early and/or finish late at night; whereas sexual harassment and gender-based violence in transport have an impact on women's travel behaviour; whereas fear of harassment in public places is not only limited to women and girls, but is also prevalent among LGBTQI+ individuals as well, limiting their social and economic integration;

P.

whereas more women than men use more collective and sustainable modes of transport, such as public transport, walking or cycling, and often perform trip chaining, which makes them accelerating agents for change in the green transition; whereas these higher rates of walking, when in clean air environments, can have a positive impact on the health of women and girls’, as it serves to reduce cardiovascular risks and the mechanical quality of blood vessels;

Q.

whereas the Commission Cities Mission aims for 100 EU cities to be climate-neutral by 2030 with various measures such as creating car-free city centres to help people better access public transport, active mobility and low-emission transport solutions; whereas achieving the SDGs on gender equality should go hand in hand with the exciting potential role women can play in turbocharging of the decarbonisation of the transport sector; whereas eradicating mobility poverty is an essential part of the EU Green Deal’s objective of ensuring a just transition where no one is left behind; whereas women are more likely to suffer from mobility poverty, in particular single mothers (who account for 85 % of single parent families) women minority groups, women on low incomes, as well as single women, women with disabilities and elderly women;

R.

whereas the adoption of new vehicle and automation technologies should take the specific needs of women into account and increase safety and sustainability, and not exclude citizens with poor IT literacy and limited access to the internet;

S.

whereas software solutions can model, simulate, analyse and optimise mobility ecosystems thus their development should take into account gender-specific needs;

T.

whereas sustainable transport, such as public transport, especially local trains, and bikes, requires equal access to mobility services through measures that ensure affordability and greater mobility for all, including older people and people with disabilities, and the same quality of service in urban and rural areas;

U.

whereas safety and convenience are major factors in deterring women and girls from cycling; whereas they are more likely to use strollers or to benefit from the possibility of using cargo bikes for care responsibilities; whereas women are more likely to take sustainability and safety into account when choosing their means of transport; whereas women are more likely to choose to cycle in places if safe and continued cycling paths and lanes are provided; whereas bike-friendly infrastructures, bike lanes and separate bike paths increase safety and perceived safety and thus encourage more of the population and especially women to cycle; whereas the development of easy-to-use bike-sharing applications offers new exciting travel possibilities, including for people living in rural areas;

V.

whereas roads are generally not designed to be people-friendly, as far too often pedestrians are an afterthought, and where pedestrian facilities exist they are often insufficient;

W.

whereas differences in body structure between men and women are a key determining factor in vulnerability in a car crash; whereas men are more likely to be involved in a car crash overall, but women involved in a car crash are 47 % more likely to be seriously injured, 71 % more likely to be moderately injured (20) and 17 % more likely to die than men (21); whereas women are also twice as likely as men to be trapped in a crashed vehicle (22); whereas the design of vehicles and carriages, including safety features such as car seats and seat belts, often assumes a larger, stereotypically male physical form, leading to lower efficiency and ease of use as well as much higher risks of serious injury and higher death rates in accidents for those of small stature, including women and girls; whereas cars, seat belts, car seats and airbags have mainly been designed using crash test dummies based on biofidelic male bodies; whereas gender-responsive crash test standards are not yet legally required;

X.

whereas transport infrastructures with well-designed and safe surroundings at points of transit (including hubs and other transport centres) have a positive impact on both actual and perceived safety (23);

Y.

whereas women and other parents and carers travelling alone with babies or toddlers face additional logistic challenges during security checks at airports and other international terminals, inside aircraft when using sanitary facilities or when disembarking; whereas travelling on public transport is difficult if access and space for children in prams and buggies is limited; whereas women are more likely to suffer from transport poverty, in particular single mothers, women belonging to minority groups, women with low income, as well as single women, women with disabilities, or older women;

Z.

whereas employment, access to services and social inclusion are closely related to access to transport and mobility; whereas mobility barriers hinder women’s access to jobs and key services, such as health and education, affecting both their own and their dependants’ human capital accumulation;

AA.

whereas employing more women in public transport results in safer public transport for women workers and passengers (24);

AB.

whereas according to the 2017 survey by the European Transport Workers’ Federation, 63 % of respondents had faced violence, 49 % of which was by customers, 22 % by colleagues and 17 % by managers/supervisors; whereas 80 % of women who reported an incident did not believe that their complaint had negative consequences for the perpetrator or made the workplace safer (25);

AC.

whereas women should be able to choose their type of work on the basis of their own free choice and needs, so as to allow them to achieve their full potential, without being limited by gender stereotyping or other external barriers; whereas women, who face barriers that make the transport sector less attractive for them, such as an aggressive culture, gender stereotypes, discrimination and unequal treatment, lack of work-life balance, lack of health and safety measures, including access to decent sanitary facilities and high levels of violence and harassment, are under-represented in transport employment at all levels, accounting for an average of around 16 % of total employees (26), and they are particularly rare in management roles; whereas the sector needs to take steps to address women’s under-representation in operations, decision-making, planning and research; whereas more effort should be made to obtain women’s input on transport matters in general; whereas stronger representation of women in the sector would help ensure that women’s needs in relation to transport are better taken into account; whereas addressing these issues would contribute to the design of products, systems and policies reflecting the needs of the majority of society, namely women, of vulnerable groups, of families in all their diversity and of young people and older people; whereas making the transport sector more attractive to women will be beneficial for all workers in the sector and improve the resilience and sustainability of the sector as a whole;

AD.

whereas the maritime industry is a male-dominated environment where women make up only an estimated 2 % of the world’s maritime workforce, including crew working in hospitality on cruise ships and only 1 % of seafarers (27); whereas women currently make up only 1,2 % of the worldwide seafarer workforce, according to the BIMCO/ICS Seafarer Workforce Report 2021; whereas women’s standing in the maritime community has improved in recent years, but has done so too slowly, and men are still predominant in traditional sectors such as transport, the construction industry or fisheries;

AE.

whereas women employees account for 40 % of the total workforce in air transport in Europe; whereas the majority of female employees in aviation work in customer service and administration, being still under-represented in positions of responsibility despite progress in recent years; whereas only 3 % of the airline pilots worldwide are women (28), whereas, in a 2018 survey carried out by Women in Aviation International, 71 % of the women consulted said they had been victims of harassment at work;

AF.

whereas the share of women truck drivers is less than 3 % in most European regions and below 12 % among bus and coach drivers (29); whereas, according to the International Road Transport Union (IRU), only 2 % of drivers in Europe in 2019 were women, while the shortage of drivers is getting worse and is leading to up to 40 % of requests not being fulfilled; whereas poor working conditions are the main reason for this situation; whereas, according to an IRU study, 87 % of drivers aged over 55 and 73 % of drivers aged under 24 believe that being required to spend long periods away from home is critical to explaining the low number of job applications in the sector;

AG.

whereas the transport sector should take into account the specific needs of women so as to guarantee their health and safety, both at work and while travelling; whereas, in many sectors and countries in the world, transport continues to be seen as a sector in which women are concentrated in lower-paid positions with comparatively few opportunities for career progression; whereas the ILO believes that violence, discrimination, psychological, sexual and workplace harassment, bullying and a lack of basic facilities affecting transport workers are leading factors that make jobs in the sector less attractive for women and make it difficult to retain people working in the sector, leading to a challenging situation in some sectors; whereas automation and digitalisation have changed the nature of previously laborious job profiles, are a challenge and have the potential to increase the sector’s attractiveness for women; whereas women are a minority among train drivers, particularly freight train drivers; whereas this situation is due to challenging working conditions, especially for women; whereas the lack of toilets and toilet paper and other poor, unhygienic conditions on freight and passenger trains are a major obstacle to increasing the number of women working in the sector; whereas distributing period underwear is not sufficient for improving the experience of women and girls when they use toilet facilities; whereas improvements can only be achieved by installing proper toilets to ensure positive and restful toilet breaks between and during journeys;

AH.

whereas transport companies across nearly all transport modes face significant recruitment problems, due inter alia to working conditions that are incompatible with a good work-life balance and care responsibilities and low salaries, particularly for mobile staff; whereas staff shortages in the transport sector could be remedied by employing more women, which could be achieved by making the sector more competitive and attractive to them, such as by improving working conditions (30),;

AI.

whereas small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can play a role in revitalising the transport sector and promoting gender equality;

AJ.

whereas it is important to promote and preserve efficient, sustainable and affordable mobility in rural areas and the outermost regions; whereas promoting and preserving efficient and affordable mobility options that allow for better connectivity and accessibility are key to greater economic and social opportunities in these areas and regions; whereas connectivity in rural areas is not adequately developed due to often poor transport infrastructure and sporadic connections, which cause unequal access to health services; whereas the development of easy-to-use bike-sharing or car-sharing applications offers promising new travel and mobility possibilities for people living in rural areas; whereas women in rural areas are less likely to have a driving licence or access to a car than men, but also travel more than men to carry out care roles;

AK.

whereas women, girls and other vulnerable groups living in rural areas experience barriers to receiving support, including health services, when they are victims of gender-based violence because of the persistent lack of a developed transport infrastructure; whereas these barriers include affordability and a lack of access to transport or means of contacting transport and care services in rural areas;

AL.

whereas insufficient collective transport can severely hinder the ability of women, girls and other vulnerable persons’ to obtain lifesaving medication, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), as well as emergency contraception;