Gender Equity Differences in Mobility Patterns Between Developing and Developed Cities: Evidence from Tangier and Oviedo

Gender equity is a research topic in the field of urban mobility, but it varies across countries, according to their social and cultural features, including levels of development. There is far less understanding of how gender influences access and mobility patterns in developing countries, where specific cultural and socioeconomic factors play a significant role. Within urban mobility research, there is a relevant gap in transport equity and accessibility. This paper follows a gender-sensitive approach to examine and compare travel behaviour and profiles of bus users in two cities: one in a developed country, Oviedo (Spain), and a second in a less developed one, Tangier (Morocco). For this purpose, two tailored surveys were conducted among bus users, collecting socio-economic, trip-related, and satisfaction variables. The analysis was structured in two steps. The first step involved a gender-informed comparison between the two cities. The second step focused on Tangier and applied a Cluster Analysis to identify distinct user profiles and gender-related travel patterns. The results from the first step reveal that gender mobility differences are more pronounced and very different aspects in Tangier than in Oviedo. In Tangier, men use buses for work, while women have lower employment rates and travel for a broader range of purposes, including shopping, studying, and leisure. In contrast, in Oviedo, men and women use the bus for similar purposes, but women use public transport more frequently. Cluster Analysis in Tangier identified four groups of bus users with varying proportions of women. Three correspond to daily travellers; among them, only one cluster shows no relevant gender differences, while the other two, composed of workers performing trips of different lengths, reveal gender differences in employment and trip purposes. The fourth cluster corresponds to occasional travellers, mainly men going to work and women going shopping. Overall, results highlight persistent gendered disparities in Tangier, while Oviedo presents more balanced mobility patterns