Spatial and social exclusion:
travel and transport
need soft rural women in Limpopo, South Africa,
PHD Thesis,
Faculty of Humanities,University of Pretoria, south Africa
Sabina Mammelane Mahapa
(2003)
Chapter 1 BACKGROUND
Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW: GENDER AND TRANSPORT
Chapter 3 GENDER AND RURAL TRANSPORT SITUATION IN SOUTH AFRICA POST 1994
Chapter 4 METHODOLOGY
Chapter 5 FINDINGS
1.1. Introduction
Transport is a topic of universal interest and importance. Production, trade and daily life require the movement of people and goods. Above all, most people wish to travel from one place to another, regularly or occasionally. Goods are collected and distributed from place to place. Thus, the transport industry exists to provide for the movement of people and goods as well as for the provision and distribution of services. Transport fulfils one of the most important functions in development and is one of the most pervasive activities in any society or economy (Hoyle & Knowles, 1992:1). Transport is also generally regarded as one of the most important factors in the process of development, both in advanced and in less advanced countries (Edmonds & Relf, 1987:3; Hoyle, 1988:71). The general importance of transport cannot be overemphasised, even though it is really only noticed when things go wrong (Hoyle & Knowles, 1992:1). Transport becomes a focus of media attention when disasters occur, when struggles paralyse services, or when exciting innovations capture public interest or become the subject of controversy. This view indicates that the study of transport cannot be left in the hands of the media. Geographers have much to contribute to the study of transport and transport geography, which, in recent years, is increasingly recognised as a useful and important component in the broad field of general transport analysis (Hoyle & Knowles, 1992; Pirie & Khosa, 1992; Tolley & Turton, 1995; Law, 1999). Although in recent years there has been a large body of literature focusing on transport in developing countries, there is still a huge gap in understanding the impact of transport on the living conditions of rural African women. Evidence, mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa, indicates that women and men in rural households have responsibility for different transport tasks, that women often carry a heavier burden in terms of time and effort spent on transport, and that, with less access and control over resources, they have fewer opportunities than men to use transport technologies that could alleviate their transport burden (Fernando & Porter, 2002). Gender issues, however, have not been considered in policy and practice, particularly in the rural transport systems of many developing countries — a situation that entrenches social and spatial exclusion in rural transport. By focusing on social and spatial exclusion and transport needs of rural women in Limpopo, as an important component of transport geography, this study hopes to engender transport geography and the rural transport system.
Hoyle and Knowles (1992:2) indicate that Transport Geography is concerned with the explanation, from a spatial perspective, of the socioeconomic, industrial and settlement frameworks within which transport networks develop and transport systems operate. They further indicate that a substantial and growing literature and an increasingly interdisciplinary involvement on the part of transport geographers have led to an enhanced awareness of the importance of the spatial dimension in transport studies, and of the contributions transport geographers are making, individually and severally, to the further understanding and eventual solutions of transport problems. Since the concept of transport will be used throughout this thesis, cognizance must be taken of the real meaning of 'transport and mobility' – terms that are usually used interchangeably.
The classical definition of transport refers to mobility or the transfer of people and goods from one place to another in order to allow for the creation of time and place utility (Leung, 1980). Place utility simply means, for example, that people use transport to travel from home to work so that they can be productive using their labour skills at a specific place. The same applies to goods that are moved from one point to another to allow them to be sold or consumed where they are required in the market place or at home. Time utility means that a person or goods should be transferred at the right time. It is within this context that transport needs of African rural women occur. African rural women need to travel from one place to another, and goods, also, need to be transported from homes to markets in time. If they are not transported in time, the community stands to lose.
The other component of transport is seen in relation to rural development. Hoyle and Knowles (1992) state that transport is a measure of interactions between areas; it also enables division of labour to occur. In simple terms it means there is a relationship between transport and spatial interaction. Spatial interaction is important for rural development to occur. For example, if goods cannot be transported from one place to another, and people are unable to move, they will be isolated and become stagnant. Isolation from the outside world inhibits social and economic interaction and it intensifies poverty by adding to the time and effort required for gaining access to facilities (IFRTD, 1993:1). A situation of isolation entrenches social and spatial exclusion of rural communities, especially among women because a majority of women live in rural areas with limited access and opportunities.
Lack of access to economic and social services, to information, to social and political discourse, and to employment opportunities ensures that communities remain in poverty (Edmonds & De Veen, 1992). At the elementary level, the difficulty of obtaining access to such basic needs as water, fuel and food means it is correspondingly more difficult to take advantage of any economic opportunities that may arise to improve the standard of living. If there is poor access to basic information, the households will be unaware of ideas and technologies that might help them to raise their level of living (Edmonds, 1997).
1.2. Statement of the problem
The dawn of democracy in South Africa has ushered in a new era of improved service delivery by the state. However, many African women, especially in rural areas, still face daunting challenges in terms of access to basic services. It is argued in this thesis that rural transport plans and development in South Africa, as elsewhere, have failed to adequately address specific gender issues, especially the specific transport needs of rural women, which suggests gaps between planning and implementation.
The theme explored in this study is to unpack the relationship between transport and empowerment or disempowerment, especially as it relates to rural black African women within the context of South Africa, which is undergoing major social, economic and political transformation.1
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1 While the shorter phrases “rural African women” and “rural women” will be used more often for convenience, this study specifically involved rural black African women in three villages in Limpopo, and “rural black South African women” should be assumed throughout as the focus of this research and its findings unless otherwise specified.
1.3. The rationale
Uppermost in the mind of the new democratic government was to improve the quality of life for all, and, in particular, for rural African women, as guided by continental policies of the NEPAD, the Constitutive Act of the African Union, and the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development. Thus the rationale for engendering rural transport is based on complementary objectives. These objectives are outlined under the macro policy environment, including gender equality and equity, economic development, and social efficiency and social sustainability.
1.3.1. Macro policy environment
Some literature suggests that analysis of programme and project interventions should be set out firmly within the context of macro economic policy and transport sector policy. Work by Elson, Evers and Turner (1998) argues that for donor agencies to adequately integrate gender analysis into any sector programme, they must consider the implications of sector policies for men and women and also the implications of gender relations for whole sector analysis and policy options. These authors further indicate that it is important to examine the ways in which gender relations, gendered norms, and gender imbalances affect performance, priorities and impacts throughout the transport sector. This involves recognising that (i) the transport needs of men and women can be different; (ii) men and women have different capabilities to participate in the design and delivery of services; and (iii) institutions which design, deliver and evaluate sector programmes operate according to rules and norms which are gendered. This means that programmes normally function in ways which prioritise men’s needs and viewpoints over those of women. Elson et al. (1998) make an argument for looking at the whole transport sector as a gendered structure and find that seemingly ‘gender neutral’ institutions may, in fact, be gender biased and may unwittingly overburden the economy of social reproduction, particularly within households. Therefore, gender balance in decision-making is important, particularly at macro policy level, which sets out the path for the country sector policies.
Work by Kabeer (1992) indicates the significance of following the gender redistributive approach in order to balance the relationship between men and women. This approach touches on strategic gender interests and also works on women’s practical gender needs in a transformational manner. The issue of transformation involves not only men altering their behaviour and attitudes but also involves women transforming themselves so that they can empower themselves. Therefore both macro and sector policies should provide the enabling supportive environments that will create opportunities for both men and women to change.
A good case is the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development which articulated its commitment to gender equality. In Article 6(2) of the SADC Treaty, member states undertook, among other issues, not to discriminate against any person on the basis of gender. The members states are also convinced that gender equality is a fundamental human right and that the integration and mainstreaming of gender issues into the SADC Programme of Action and Community Building Initiative are key to the sustainable development of the SADC region. But the member states are deeply concerned about disparities between women and men in the areas of legal rights, power sharing and decision-making, as well as disparities in access to and control over productive resources, education and health, among others. They have also acknowledged that women constitute the majority of the poor. Above all, efforts to integrate gender considerations into SADC sectoral programmes and projects have not sufficiently mainstreamed gender in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.
There are also some examples of enabling macro policy environment in the commitments made by the African Union. Article 3(h & j) of the objectives of the AU states that the Union’s objective is to promote and protect human and peoples’ rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other relevant human rights instruments. Article 4(l) pledges commitment to gender equality.
Although the main NEPAD document has a very weak and unsatisfactory policy statement concerned with promoting the role of women in development, this has now been bolstered with the supplementary NEPAD Declaration on Democracy, Politics, Economic and Corporate Governance. This is more in line with the similar text of the Constitutive Act of the African Union. This Declaration includes the principle that its is a binding obligation to ensure that women have every opportunity to contribute in terms of full equality to political and socio-economic development in all our countries (Article 1).
This same Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance also reaffirms (articles 3 and 4) its allegiance to the UN Convention on the elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, to the Beijing Declaration, and to the OAU African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. This latter document includes the following principles: The state shall ensure the elimination of discrimination against women and ensure the protection of the rights of the women and the child as stipulated in the international declarations and conventions.
Analysis of the NEPAD document, the Constitutive Act of the African Union, as well as the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development, provide a broader continental framework for the South African policies. Above all they provide a mandate to focus on gender, rural women, development and transport.
1.3.2. Gender equality
Gender equality has to do with the fact that women should have equal rights and entitlements to human, social, economic and cultural development, and should have an equal voice in civic and political life, just like men. Gender equity means that the exercise of these rights and entitlements leads to outcomes which are fair and just (Derbyshire, 2002).
It therefore follows that gender equality in this thesis has to deal with highlighting special needs in rural travel and transport. Transport policies and development programmes favour men more than women and this further perpetuates inequality. Such policies do not adequately reflect concern about gender differences in travel patterns and needs. Development planning also has mostly focused on households or communities. The assumption has been that women and men perform the same tasks and that their labour inputs are the same (Mascarenhas, 1995). The analysis of rural travel and transport has clearly shown that the labour burden in travel and transport is excessive and that most of it falls on women (Ali-Nejadfard, 1997; World Bank, 1999).
This focus on highlighting special needs implies that there are major gender inequalities in the transport burden in Africa. Most transport programmes and intermediate means of transport (IMTs) initiatives are determined by men and designed for men, and men are the major beneficiaries (World Bank, 1999:5). IMTs refer to a range of low-cost transport technologies, particularly the more affordable ones. Almost always this range includes animals and animal-drawn means of transport. Donkeys in particular are owned and used by poor households. Other low-cost means of transport include different kinds of pack animals, sledges, animal carts, bicycles and other cycle-based transport modes (Fernando, 1999). These modes are still considered male domains, while women have less access to profitable transport activities. As a result women's viewpoints are less heard and few transport projects have incorporated gender analysis in designing IMT components.
Transport studies have shown that there is not only gender inequality in the transport burden but also in the interventions designed to alleviate that burden. IMT promotion programmes must ensure there is gender-disaggregated data relating to rural transport problems, needs, priorities and programme impact. Integrating gender into rural transport planning strategies requires ways of identifying gender differences in transport needs and priorities as well as ways in which gender inequalities in rural transport interventions can be addressed.
If the goal of transport planning is to improve the quality of rural women’s lives then the reduction of the transport burden must be one of the yardsticks to measure the improvement. It warrants effective steps to reduce the transport burden for the benefit not only of women but also of all those who depend on them. To achieve the goal, we need to understand how the burden is distributed between men and women, who have the greater burden, and to understand, as well, how this creates special gender needs.
1.3.3. Economic need and social efficiency
The issue of special needs is directly linked to the economic reason for collecting genderdisaggregated data. Economic and social efficiency have to do with the distribution of transport resources that are economically and socially inefficient and which, therefore, underestimate the productive and social roles of rural women in society. The assumption here is that time saved in transport can be better used for productive activities. Studies investigating this theory are few because labour saving devices for women are comparatively new. However, there are a few examples. In Kenya, for example, time saved in water collection through the introduction of rain harvesting was allocated to craftwork. Savings from craftwork were used to buy a maize mill (Mascarenhas, 1995). In another case, savings in time and effort through hand-operated maize mills in Cameroon were used to improve roads, make soap and spend more time on domestic activities (Carr & Sandhu, 1987).
1.3.4. Welfare need
Savings in travel and transport can also be utilised for the improving the health of both the women and men and also of especially vulnerable members of the family such as the elderly and the children. In Tanzania, for example, it has been argued that one of the contributory causes of malnutrition among the under-fives, is the small number of times that they are fed due to the women’s heavy burden (UNICEF, 1990). The major contributory cause of malnutrition among the under-fives is that they are breast-fed only once or twice a day instead of three or more times (Mascarenhas, 1995). It seems, therefore, that women’s gender-determined activities leave them very little time for cooking many meals a day, especially during peak periods of labour demand.
Concern is also raised about the effect of head loading on women. Some sources claim that it has negative effects, such as high incidences of backache (Bryceson and Howe, 1993). There is not enough information on this subject, but the heavy transport load of women has led one study in Makete District to conclude that the heavy burden that women have to bear both in time and physical effort is probably one of the contributory causes for the fact that women in Makete District have a shorter life expectancy than men in the study area (Barwell & Malmberg-Calvo, 1989).
1.3.5. Demographic need In relation to demographic needs, the prevalence of women-headed households seems to be increasing not only as a result of more frequent divorces but also as a result of HIV/AIDS. As men migrate to urban areas, women-headed households increase. For practical purposes, women have to take on all the responsibilities of the household, including those of the male head of household who is absent for long periods in the year.
1.3.6. Efficiency and sustainability need
On the question of both efficiency and sustainability, a great number of studies have documented the fact that failure to consider women’s issues can lead to failure of projects and programmes. In Tanzania, for example, a resettlement programme failed because the land rights of the matrilineal women were not recognised by the settlement scheme (Mascarenhas, 1995). Land was only allocated to the male heads of household and then only for cultivating cash crops. The women therefore have no land to cultivate their own food and other crops for sale. Therefore they left the settlement scheme, and this affected labour inputs on which both the men and the managers of the scheme depended (Brain, 1976).
1.3.7. Leisure need
Women need leisure time to rest as well as to participate in social and political activities that address their practical needs. The assumption that is made is that any savings in travel and transport can offer rural women opportunity to attend meetings and participate in social, political and cultural activities.
For all these reasons, there is a need to consider gender issues in rural transport planning; this can only happen if consideration is given to gender-desegregated data on travel and the transport needs of rural women. Therefore, any analysis of social organisation and social process has to take into account the structure and dynamic of gender relations. From this perspective, the basic problem is not rural women's lack of education, their invisibility, or their lack of credit. The problem is the structures and processes that give rise to rural women's disadvantage, in this case poor or even lack of access to services and facilities.
Coming up with structures that support rural women’s advantage is the primary focus of this study. But giving rural women training is not a solution; it only serves as a useful step in rural women's empowerment.
These objectives show a relationship which exists between the social and spatial exclusion and the travel and transport needs of rural women. This relationship locates the proposed study firmly within the realm of interdisciplinary fields: a spatial discipline — Geography, and a social discipline — Sociology.
1.4. The research questions
The research questions are based on the understanding that rural black African women have roles and responsibilities that involve travel and transporting of goods. Hence they have to use some form of transport for their different activities. In the process there are constraints that create problems for them. Problems that are not resolved lead to denied opportunities. Therefore, the need for policy to accommodate rural African women's travel and transport needs comes into the picture. The research questions are as follows:
- What roles are played by rural African women that involve transport? ƒ
- How do rural women make use of the existing transport system? ƒ
- What are the constraints and related problems experienced by rural African women in travel and transport? ƒ
- What is the impact of travel and transport on African rural women's lives and livelihood? ƒ
- What opportunities are denied if the system does not meet rural women's needs? ƒ
- What are rural women's travel and transport needs? ƒ
- Why must the issues be addressed?
1.5. Aim of the study
The overall aim of the study is to unpack the travel and transport needs of rural women so that future transport policy will be implemented in a gender-sensitive manner.
Consequently, the following specific objectives are pursued:
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- To establish the roles and responsibilities of the African rural women that involve travel and transport; ƒ
- To establish how rural women make use of transport;
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- To identify the constraints and problems related to travel and transport; ƒ
- To identify the impact of travel and transport on African rural women's lives and livelihood and the opportunities denied if the system does not meet their needs; ƒ
- To determine the extent to which existing transport facilities meet African rural women's needs for travel and transport; and ƒ
- To examine the extent to which current rural transport policies address their identified needs.
1.6. Overview of methodology
A study of this nature can be done appropriately by using qualitative feminism. Feminism is an approach which emphasises gender relations and it has begun to influence how geographers conceptualise their subject matter. Such feminist research is raising questions about
women’s position in the labour market, their experience of wage and unwaged work, about the patriarchal basis of land use and planning policies, about women’s access to education, health and other social services, about their involvement in community politics and other areas that conventionally have been identified as part of the subject matter of our discipline (McDowell, 1988:157).
The questions under investigation in this study relate to the above statement, especially looking at what McDowell (1988) is emphasising: the role that should be played by women geographers as organising for change within and outside conventional academic boundaries. McDowell, (1988:155) argues that women are beginning to have an impact and to become visible in ways that have not been there in the past. I am a female and geographer; the use of qualitative feminism is appropriate in this case, guided by the research questions, in order to achieve the objectives of this study.
To achieve the objectives of this study, qualitative methods such as focus group interviews, participant observation, and documents and photographs were used to collect data. This choice is in accord with Robinson's (1998:460) view that the use of such research methods can transcend the limitations imposed by alternative methods in which a one-way process dominates. Qualitative analysis followed. Tapes were transcribed, data segmented to create individual documents, categories and sub-categories identified to finally develop themes and to present account for links and patterns.
1.7. The study area
The study area consist of three villages in Limpopo, namely, Tshitwi, Babanana and Mamoleka in the former Venda, Gazankulu and Lebowa respectively (Figure 1.1). These villages were chosen because they are located in disadvantaged areas in Limpopo. They are characterised by an underdeveloped agricultural basis, low productivity levels, a strong tendency towards out-migration, chronic unemployment (irrespective of age), poverty, and a preponderance of female-headed households and youths. The inhabitants of these villages have difficulty in accessing social, economic and transport facilities and services. Commercial services are even more out of reach. These features make the province particularly vulnerable to poverty. The other feature is that ninety per cent of Limpopo households live in rural areas and that women constitute fifty-four per cent of these households (Development Bank of Southern Africa, DBSA, 1998). The implication is that it is mainly rural women who experience problems of inaccessibility to facilities and services in rural areas in Limpopo and hence live in poverty.
1.8. Transport needs
Rural women in poverty have vast needs arising from three different roles and responsibilities, namely, production, reproduction and community roles. These needs have sometimes been categorised as practical needs and strategic needs, the former being those of an immediate and short-term nature, and the latter concerning the need for change at a more fundamental level. Moser (1989) uses these categories to analyse the needs around which women organise into practical and strategic gender needs. Practical gender needs might include sanitation, children's nurseries, higher wages, and health care services for women. Strategic gender needs might include changes in divorce laws to give women equality with men, or affirmative action to give women more political representation (Molyneux, 1985:233). Travel and transport needs of rural women may arise from their practical everyday needs and from strategic needs in society. Practical everyday needs include:
- Productive – ways in which rural women produce subsistence, income and capital; ƒ
- Reproductive – activities carried out to maintain the household, e.g., fetching water and fuel-wood, cooking, child care, care of the sick, and child bearing; ƒ
- Social – activities that are carried out as members of a social grouping, house-building, visiting relatives etc.
Figure 1.1: Orientation of Tshitwi, Bananana and Mamoleka in Limpopo, South Africa
Rural women's strategic needs involve the creation of a more equitable organisation of society in which they have the same rights as men to own and control resources and to participate fully in policy and decision-making processes at all levels. Strategic needs in rural travel and transport are long-term but have to be considered in transport planning if the development goals of such planning are to be sustained. They include:
- Alleviation of the burden of domestic labour and childcare by provision of better facilities; ƒ
- The removal of all institutionalised forms of legal or cultural discrimination against ownership of land, property and the means of transport; and ƒ
- Access to credit to improve income and afford better means of transport; and ƒ
- The right to participate in all decisions regarding improvement of transport facilities
What one gathers is that the roles that rural women have as homemakers and society managers must inevitably have a powerful influence on their travel patterns, although there is little documented evidence that clearly demonstrates this. One can speculate that their roles as biological and social reproducers are likely to be closely constrained to the household, with travel being governed largely by the need to have access to health care, shopping facilities or even government offices in urban areas. In rural areas, access to water and fuel supplies will also be important in determining travel patterns associated with the role of household management. Furthermore, the fact that rural women often have to combine their reproductive role with some form of employment must affect their potential range of travel to work. Thus, the importance that transport planners place on productive roles leads to their ignoring the transport associated with reproductive and community roles.
The implication is that transport services and infrastructure are rarely planned with rural women’s travel and transport needs in mind. That lack of gender-sensitivity in transport planning entrenches social and economic exclusion is obvious. So, in order to respond to rural women’s travel and transport needs, it is important to understand what their actual needs are in relation to travel and transport. The focus of this research is to identify travel and transport needs of rural women so that future planning can respond to these needs.
1.9. Structure of the thesis
Chapter one provides the background and introduction. Chapter two presents a literature review on gender and transport. Chapter three addresses two main issues: what is known about transport geography in South Africa and the rural transport situation in South Africa post 1994. The latter focuses on what is known in terms of rural transport policy in this country. Chapter four presents the methodology. Chapter five focuses on the findings. Chapter six presents the interpretation and discussion of the findings. Chapter seven is the conclusion and recommendations.
1.10. Conclusion
The theme emerging in this chapter is that there is a huge gap in understanding the impact of transport on the living conditions of African rural women, which also suggests a gap between planning and implementation. This theme is derived from the fact that current knowledge does not make it easy to understand rural women's travel and transport needs because their activities have been regarded as of secondary importance. The lack of concern with detailed examination of the travel implications of rural women's gender role arises from generalisations that their roles are normal and natural. There is, therefore, a need for in-depth information on the roles, the uses, the constraints and related problems, the impact and opportunities deprived, and the need for policy to accommodate African rural women's travel and transport needs. It is also important to provide a more detailed and current assessment of the problems of rural women's accessibility to socio-economic services, such as transport and facilities and even employment. If this does not happen, then it will be difficult to tackle social and spatial exclusion as related to African rural women and their travel and transport needs.
Geographers, especially in the transport discipline, have also ignored rural women’s changing experience in society as a valid area for research. This also suggests the need to address transport needs of rural women as one of the vulnerable groups in society who require specific improvements to the transport systems they use. The next chapter will focus on the literature review related to gender and transport.
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