As she goes to work every day, Mitchelle is always anxious about one Initiative Kenya, women like to be able to scan their surroundings through bus windows prior to alighting to determine whether it is the right stop and whether the environment is hospitable enough for them to alight.
The lobby has urged the National Transport and Safety Authority to develop a uniform sexual harassment policy for all companies and Saccos operating matatus stating that 76 percent of female drivers and conductors have experienced or witnessed sexual harassment.
This policy should stand against sexual harassment in all its forms and have clear, actionable, and reliable systems to address harassment when reported.
“The number of women employed in public transport at all levels remains extremely low. We call on NTSA to ensure that transport companies and Saccos adopt affirmative action hiring practices that would ensure at least 40 per cent female representation,” they said.
“NTSA should further enforce formal contracting of employees in the public transport sector. Ninety-four percent of women in Nairobi’s minibus industry do not have formal contracts with employing Saccos, this being against authority regulations of 2013.”
In their latest Gender Equity Assessment report they stated reluctance of survivors to report these incidences due to lack of clear reporting mechanisms and the belief that perpetrators will not be held accountable.
“I have never reported because who do you even report to? Some of these people you never see again, some you see every day and they are doing the same thing to most women. It’s normal for them,” she said.
The initiative adds their findings reveal a disturbing gender gap between how men and women experience public transport.
“Sexual harassment can have a harmful cumulative effect on those who experience or bear witness to it, serving to reinforce and normalize negative gender stereotypes,” the report reads.
Other recommendations include lighting matatus and bust stops in the evening, developing a reliable feedback system for customers, and staff training on the feedback system.