Women’s Mobility Challenges and Solutions in Mexico City

Authors

  • Marley Pinsky Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/pur.2024.56

Abstract

Feminist urban theory sustains that the built environment symbolizes and perpetuates patriarchal power relations; because cities were originally designed as industrial hubs dominated by men, they are hostile to women by design. This theory is exemplified by Mexico City, where women face a unique set of challenges while interacting with the built environment, especially in regard to urban mobility. The city is designed without consideration of womens’ specific needs, such as their unique mobility patterns and their needs for illuminated, secure transportation nodes. Car-centric urban design inherently benefits men while putting women - who primarily walk, bike, or take public transportation due to economic inequities - at risk. Additionally, 9 out of 10 women who regularly use public transportation in Mexico City have experienced sexual harassment - a violent manifestation of the patriarchal value that women do not belong in the public sphere. Since 1977, Mexico City has introduced women-only cars on its metro and has since introduced women-only buses and taxis. While these initiatives are crucial to increasing women’s safety and autonomy, they fail to address the root of the issue: the societal values that have allowed a patriarchal built environment to exist.

References

Alcantara, Eduardo. “Análisis de la movilidad urbana. Espacio, ambiente, y equidad.” Corporación Andina de Fomento, Bogotá, 2010.

Alvarado Mendoza, Arturo, et al. La movilidad y la violencia contra las mujeres en los espacios públicos de la Ciudad de México. El Colegio de México, 2021.

Burnett, Victoria. “Near Mexico City, Cable Car Lets Commuters Glide Over Traffic (Published 2016).” The New York Times, 28 December 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/world/americas/mexico-city-mexicable.html. Accessed 30 November 2023.

Cities Alliance. “Report: Metropolitan Spaces for Women.” Cities Alliance, https://www.citiesalliance.org/resources/publications/cities-alliance-knowledge/report-metropolitan-spaces-women. Accessed 30 November 2023.

Ciudad de México, and ONU Mujeres. “ENCUESTA SOBRE LA VIOLENCIA SEXUAL EN EL TRANSPORTE Y OTROS ESPACIOS PÚBLICOS EN LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO.” ONU Mujeres – México, https://mexico.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Field%20Office%20Mexico/Documentos/Publicaciones/2018/Safe%20Cities/AnalisisResultadosEncuesta%20CDMX%20f.pdf. Accessed 30 November 2023.

Criado-Perez, Caroline. Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. Chatto & Windus, 2019.

Dunckel-Graglia, Amy. “Women-Only Transportation: How “Pink” Public Transportation Changes Public Perception of Women's Mobility.” University of South Florida Journal of Public Transportation, 2013, https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/jpt/vol16/iss2/5/. Accessed 30 November 2023.

Evans Morales, Franco. “Movilidad urbana y transporte público. Estado sobre el orden de interacción en la ciudad.” Revistas de investigación UNMSM, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, https://revistasinvestigacion.unmsm.edu.pe/index.php/sociales/article/view/17706/19575. Accessed 30 November 2023.

“Exclusive: Mexico City's transport ranked as most dangerous for women - global poll.” Reuters, 16 June 2023, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-transport-women-poll-mexico/exclusive-mexico-citys-transport-ranked-as-most-dangerous-for-women-global-poll-idUSKCN1NK059/. Accessed 30 November 2023.

López, Jonás. “El Metro tiene un sobrecupo de un millón de usuarios al día.” Excélsior, 19 January 2018, https://www.excelsior.com.mx/comunidad/2018/01/19/1214535. Accessed 30 November 2023.

Maldonado Maldonado. “MOVILIDAD Y VIOLENCIA CONTRA LAS MUJERES EN LOS ESPACIOS PÚBLICOS DE LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO.” PAN CDMX, https://bibliotecapancdmx.org.mx/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Movilidad-y-violencia-contra-las-mujeres-en-los-espacios-pu%CC%81blicos-de-la-Ciudad-de-Me%CC%81xico.pdf. Accessed 29 November 2023.

Oliver Wyman Forum. “Mexico City's Progress Toward The Paris Agreement.” Oliver Wyman Forum, https://www.oliverwymanforum.com/mobility/how-urban-mobility-can-help-cities-limit-climate-change/mexico-city.html. Accessed 30 November 2023.

Secretaría de Movilidad de la Ciudad de México. “Plan Estratégico de Género y Movilidad 2019.” Semovi, https://semovi.cdmx.gob.mx/storage/app/media/estrategia-de-genero-140319.pdf. Accessed 29 November 2023.

Secretaría de Movilidad de la Ciudad de México. “Plan Estratégico de Género y Movilidad: Resultados de 2019 a marzo de 2022.” Semovi, 16 June 2022, https://www.semovi.cdmx.gob.mx/storage/app/media/Resultados%20del%20PEGyM%20de%202019%20a%20marzo%202022.pdf. Accessed 30 November 2023.

Vite Pérez, Miguel Ángel. “Reseña: La movilidad y la violencia contra las mujeres en los espacios públicos de la ciudad de México.” Vista de Reseña: La movilidad y la violencia contra las mujeres en los espacios públicos de la ciudad de México, https://gremium.editorialrestauro.com.mx/index.php/gremium/article/view/206/414. Accessed 29 November 2023.

Downloads

Published

2024-04-12

How to Cite

Marley Pinsky. (2024). Women’s Mobility Challenges and Solutions in Mexico City . Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.5195/pur.2024.56

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2024): Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review

Section

Research

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Marley Pinsky

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.
  9. The Author agrees to digitally sign the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work.