Women make up a little more than 50% of the population, yet transport planning is still predominantly a male profession. As a result, a masculine perspective has tended to dominate. In aggregate, the travel needs of women and men tend to differ, whether because of the former being more likely to be engaged in caring rôles and part-time, more local work, or due to a greater perception of vulnerability to attack. These issues affect men as well, of course, but are perhaps felt more acutely by a greater proportion of women. The feminine perspective needs to be incorporated with the masculine to create a truly human-scale transport system.
In 1990, CILT published a milestone report on women's travel needs in London. Now out-of-print and out-of-date in many details, the overall thrust is still relevant: little has changed in eleven years. Read it here.
A review of the current situation by Kathleen Covill was published in Transition in 2000. Read it here.