Mind the Gap! Genderspezifische Anforderungen an die Gestaltung von Verkehrsmitteln – und wie wir sie lösen können

Abstract

Many products are primarily designed on the basis of the requirements and needs of an average man, including mobility services. Gender-specific physiognomies, but also other aspects like personal safety are currently not sufficiently considered when design-ing mobility services. One example are safety-relevant restraint systems such as airbags and seatbelts in cars, which lead to a higher injury rate among women if gender-specific differences are neglected. Furthermore, current urban and transport planning does not equally consider the requirements of women and men either. Such unnoticed gender dif-ferences are referred to as gender gaps. The starting point of the present study is the hy-pothesis that the design of mobility services and means of transport has also been pri-marily focused on the needs of the average man and that a Mobility Design Gender Gap (MDGG) therefore exists. The hypothesis is analyzed with a systematic literature re-view and supplementary expert interviews. The literature suggests that an MDGG exists and is particularly visible in four areas: Safety, sanitary needs, usability, and comfort. Furthermore, it becomes evident that the identified needs regarding the design of trans-portation means cannot be viewed independently of the transportation system and (ur-ban) space in which transportation means are embedded. The expert interviews showed that gender-fair design of mobility services hardly plays a role in the practice of the in-terviewees and knowledge about it is lacking. There are currently no established strate-gies to address gender-specific needs in the design process of mobility services. In con-clusion, this study provides initial recommendations.