Women only cars in the Cairo metro: A response to what problem?

In Cairo, in 1989, i.e. two years after the first subway line was commissioned, the management body decided to reserve two cars per train for women (for young children and “vulnerable” people too). The cars are today situated at the centre of the train, and the arrangement operates either all day, or only between 9 a.m and 6 p.m. The research presented here, based mainly on the analysis of a corpus of press articles and international comparison, attempts to show the complexity of the reasons which led to this decision, and at a more secondary level, it was interested in how this arrangement was received by the public. It came to the following conclusions: that the separation of the sexes in terms of inclusion of women in urban life was ambiguous; that the feminist activists were ambivalent about this separation; that issues of sex and class were interlinked in the decision to create reserved cars; that the social relations of sex and class were consubstantial in how interactions played out in the subway environment, and in the reception of the separate car measure. These conclusions invite further research to give a more precise shape to the terms of these ambiguities and entrenchments; this will be the subject of the future MeTraGe programme.

• Record URL:
  • http://wiit-paris2014.sciencesconf.org/conference/wiit-paris2014/pages/Proceedings_The_5th_International_Conference_on_WIiT_1.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Federation Internationale De L'Automobile (FIA)

  8 Place de la Concorde
  Paris,   France 

  Institut Francais des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de l'Aménagement et des Réseaux (IFSTTAR)

  14-20 bd Newton, Cité Descartes, Champs su Marne
  77447 Marne la Vallée,   France  Cedex 2

  Department of Transportation

  Bureau of Transportation Statistics
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Tillous, Marion
  • Gillot, Gaëlle
• Conference:
  • 5th International Conference on Women's Issues in Transportation
  • Location: Paris , France
  • Date: 2014-4-14 to 2014-4-16
• Publication Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Maps; References;
• Pagination: pp 413-423
• Monograph Title: Women's Issues in Transportation 5th International Conference. Proceedings: Bridging the Gap

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Females; Gender; Males; Mobility; Public policy; Sexual harassment; Subways
• Geographic Terms: Egypt
• Subject Areas: Passenger Transportation; Policy; Public Transportation; Society; I70: Traffic and Transport;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01553859
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 24 2015 9:07AM