Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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14.2
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Article 14 - Rural women
Rural women face many of the same challenges and difficulties of women in urban areas.
However these difficulties are exacerbated by living in isolated rural communities. The poor,
older and disabled are most affected.
Taking women’s needs into account when providing rural transport and assessing
transport needs
Two thirds of public transport journeys are made by bus and a quarter of UK households do not
have a car, including 11% in rural areas. 1 Women are more likely to be reliant on public transport
than men as 78% of women live in a household with a car compared to 84% of men and 63% of
women have a driving licence compared to 81% of men. 2 Older women are also particularly likely
to be reliant on public transport. In 2009 women over 70 made only a fifth of their trips as car
drivers, while men over 70 made more than half their trips as car drivers. 3
The Government has increased the cap on statutory ticket prices on UK railways, enabling
train operating companies to increase fares at 3% above the rate of inflation, leading to huge
fare hikes for commuters and other rail travellers. An increase in rail fares will have a particular
impact on low-income travellers as the UK’s rail network is already the most expensive in
Europe. 4 Simultaneously, the spending cuts of more than 40% by the Department for Transport
will also lead to the loss of well-trained staff on the transport network that promote safety for
women and support disabled people in their travels. 5 The concession scheme which gave older
and disabled people half-price travel on coaches also ended in November 2011.
The House of Commons Transport Select Committee have collected evidence showing that
this will result in people becoming more socially isolated, in some cases with no way of getting
from their village to the nearest town, people no longer able to visit sick or elderly relatives as
frequently because there is no bus service and they could not afford taxis every day and parents
of young children finding it difficult to take their children to childcare services. 6
Cuts to public transport, especially rural bus services, 7 affect women disproportionately
(especially older and disabled women 8 ). Public transport is critical to get to health
appointments, engage in social activities, access childcare, education 9 or employment or
access support to escape violent situations. 10 Women are more vulnerable, particularly BME,
1. House of Commons Transport Committee (2011) Bus Services after the Spending Review: Eighth report of session 2010-12. http://www.
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmtran/750/750.pdf
2. Department for Transport (2009) Women and Public Transport: The checklist. http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/women-and-publictransport/
3. Department for Transport (2009) Women and Public Transport: The checklist. http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/women-and-publictransport/
4. Milmo, D. (2010) ‘Britain’s railways named as Europe’s most expensive’, The Guardian, 8th September 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/
world/2010/sep/08/britain-railways-most-expensive-europe
5. Peck, S. (2012) ‘Cuts threat to public transport’, Disability Now, February 2012
6. House of Commons Transport Committee (2011) Bus Services after the Spending Review: Eighth report of session 2010-12. http://www.
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmtran/750/750.pdf
7. Stephenson, M. (2011) TUC Women and the Cuts Toolkit: How to carry out a human rights and equality impact assessment of the spending
cuts on women. TUC: London http://www.tuc.org.uk/equality/tuc-20286-f0.cfm
8. Jolly, D., Priestley, M. and Matthews, B. (2006) Secondary Analysis of Existing Data on Disabled People’s Use and Experiences of Public
Transport in Great Britain. A research report for the Disability Rights Commission http://www.scie-socialcareonline.org.uk/profile.
asp?guid=ca3421d3-39da-4dd9-bf3c-223262d121c6
9. Rural Childcare Stakeholder Group (2008) Rural Childcare: Investing in the future http://www.rdc.org.uk/download/1/pub_RuralChildcare.
pdf; and see House of Commons Transport Committee (2011) Written evidence from the Association of Colleges (BUS 62), February 2011
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmtran/750/750vw49.htm
10. Department for Transport (2009) Women and Public Transport: The checklist. http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/women-and-publictransport/
and also see Campaign for Better Transport http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/campaigns/save-our-buses Accessed: 22/03/13
148 Women’s equality in the UK: CEDAW shadow report 2013