João Pedro Saldanha Corrêa (p), Eduardo Amaral Haddad

Dimitra Foufri

The metropolitan region of São Paulo (SPMR), Brazil’s main commercial and industrial center, is the largest urban agglomeration in South America, housing nearly 21 million people. Its vast size, transportation challenges, and unique socio-economic dynamics make it an interesting case study on gender inequality, particularly in regards to transportation.
A mobility survey, Pesquisa Origem Destino (POD), conducted by São Paulo city’s subway company, maps the travel patterns of the metropolitan population on a typical business day. There have been seven editions of this survey, dating back to 1967, with the two most recent ones conducted in 2017 and 2023 – the latter one published in mid-February 2025. POD 2017 revealed significant gender disparities: among the whole population, 26.1% of men and 33.3% of women did not make any trips on the reference day, with the gender gap being even more pronounced among the old, reaching 11.6 percentage points. Men, specially working-age, traveled greater distances on average than women, with differences ranging from less than a kilometer to over three, depending on the demographic subgroup. Nevertheless, both genders spent approximately the same amount of time commuting. This pattern can be explained by differences in transportation mode usage: men tend to rely more on private vehicles, while women are disproportionately more likely to use public transit or walk.
Noting changes in ridership and mobility patterns following the COVID-19 pandemic, transportation authorities decided to conduct the next edition of POD in 2023 instead of 2027 as originally planned. Preliminary results reported by the media indicate significant reduction in number of trips across all transportation modes, an increased share of private vehicles use, the continued rise of ride-hailing services, and the emergence of remote work and distance learning as common arrangements for work and study. These shifts are likely to have uneven impacts between the genders.
This paper aims to contribute to the discussion on gender inequality in transportation by analyzing mobility patterns in SPMR in 2023 and comparing them to 2017. Furthermore, we seek to examine these patterns spatially, as income inequality – which is related to gender inequality – is geographically distributed across SPMR. Lastly, we intend to elaborate an index to measure the spatial mismatch between gender and employment accessibility.

Dimitra Foufri (p), Yannis Doukas

Karl-Gunnar Severinsen

This paper is about the social inequalities inscribed in space and the role they play in the social exclusion of women. The Municipality of Myki, in the Regional Unit of Xanthi, which is mainly inhabited by the Pomaks group of the Greek Muslim minority, was chosen as the field of research.
In the study area, social inequalities are also inscribed in the spatial development of the population. In this paper, the position of women and in particular the differentiation of the social composition of the area of the Pomaks of the Municipality of Mykes from that of the wider area of the Regional Unit (RU) of Xanthi, as well as from the whole of Greece, is examined.
In this research, the data from the latest ELSTAT census (2021) were studied and analyzed.
The analysis gives priority to two parameters that are critical for the study of the spatial and social exclusion of the Pomaks of Xanthi and especially of the women of this group. The following are analysed: (a) the labour market integration of the population and especially of women and (b) the level of education of the population and especially of women.
This study delves into the gender dimension by examining the integration in the productive process and the level of education of women in the study area. It reveals a significant differentiation in educational attainment between men and women, greater than that of the Regional Unit of Xanthi and the country as a whole.
Also, as the data show, women in the Municipality of Myki are doubly excluded because of the area where they live and because of their gender. The Pomaks of the Municipality of Myki, especially women, have difficulty in integrating in terms of equal opportunities in the labour market and a low level of education, which limits access to high-income occupations and higher social status.
Here, an attempt is made to investigate one aspect of the process of spatial social exclusion of the Pomaks, particularly women in the study area, in order to arrive at a broader explanatory scheme of the spatial social exclusion of women in the Municipality of Myki.

Keywords: spatial-social exclusion, gender inequalities, unequal spatial development

Karl-Gunnar Severinsen (p), Arnstein Gjestland , Inge Thorsen, Jan Ubøe

József Pál Lieszkovszky

This paper investigates the impact of social frontiers (SF) on labour market participation andunemployment among immigrant groups in Oslo, Norway. Using Norwegian registry data from2018, we examine how the presence of social barriers within urban neighbourhoods influencesthe economic engagement of both native and immigrant workers. Our study hypothesises thatthe propensity to be outside the workforce is influenced by demographic and socioeconomiccharacteristics, as well as the residential neighbourhood’s social composition. We distinguishbetween areas with high proportions of non-Western immigrants (SF High), low proportionsof immigrants (SF Low), and areas with insignificant differences (SF None). Employing anested logistic regression model, we analyse the probabilities of various labour market and ed-ucational positions, accounting for gender, age, wage, education, and family background. Ourfindings reveal that social frontiers significantly hinder the integration process of immigrants.Specifically, immigrants in SF High neighbourhoods exhibit lower labour market participationrates, higher unemployment rates, and reduced likelihoods of entering higher education or self-employment compared to those in SF Low or SF None areas. These barriers are particularlypronounced for non-Western immigrant women. Overall, our research highlights the detrimen-tal effects of social frontiers on the economic and social mobility of immigrants, underscoringthe need for policies that promote integration and equal opportunities across urban areas.

József Pál Lieszkovszky (p)

João Pedro Saldanha Corrêa

The presentation will examine the role of Demand Responsive Transport Systems in reducing transport-related social exclusion.

Since the creation of Demand Responsive Transport (DRT), the idea behind these schemes has been to find more efficient ways to match public transport supply to actual demand in areas/neighborhoods where transport demand density has always been low. The starting point is that fixed-route public transport can be an effective alternative to private motorized modes in densely populated areas: the higher the population or population density of an area, the more concentrated the travel demand. However, in less densely populated areas, be they rural, or suburban, the economies of scale of this mode cannot be realized, so public transport services will only be viable with higher subsidies.

Transport-related exclusion can be defined as the lack of access to any means of transport to get to the place where the person is engaged in the social activities that are important to them and in which they would like to participate. In other words, from another perspective, the person cannot travel to and from places others can reach without difficulty. The first and most important factor determining the degree of need is access to a car, modified by other factors such as financial situation, possession of a driving license, car ownership, gender, age, physical condition, household type, access to work, language skills, and minority status. In addition, there is often an overlap between these factors. This social exclusion form is called transport poverty or transport-related social exclusion.

The research aims to develop a work based on the existing literature and field research to describe the impact of DRT systems on transport-related social exclusion. The study was carried out in Budapest, where 2-3 DRT lines were selected - they can be found in the inner outskirts of the city -, and interviews, questionnaires, and participant observation were conducted among the traveling public.

In addition to the above, it is essential to note that few researchers have yet addressed these issues in such a comparative way, as DRT systems have been approached mainly from the engineering sciences, while transport-related social exclusion has been contacted from the geography and social sciences. It is vital to address these issues together, as transport exclusion and poverty are affecting an increasing proportion of society today, and a solution is needed.