• Women like to be able to scan their surroundings through bus windows prior to alighting to determine whether the environment is hospitable enough for them
• Initiative's findings reveal disturbing gender gap between how men and women experience public transport.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
As she goes to work every day, Mitchelle is always anxious about navigating the bus stop to find the right matatu.
Before the 26-year-old even gets to the terminus, about three touts are usually already surrounding her, each telling her to board their vehicle.
"They are loud, they completely invade personal space and the more you keep walking, more of them come and sometimes you are completely surrounded by strangers yelling in your face," she said.
"I once got into a matatu and realised that it only had men and I did not feel safe. When I tried to alight the driver started moving and three guys were blocking the door. I jumped out, I didn't care but there was no way I was going anywhere in that vehicle."
Mitchelle tells the Star that she deals with harassment and abuse daily.
"Even now during coronavirus, conductors still want to shout in your face without their masks on and touch you while trying to get you into their vehicles," she said. "When you get angry and demand that they leave you alone, they insult you."
She has also seen other women experience harassment when trying to find matatus.
"I once saw a girl who refused to alight a bus and the driver was driving back and forth to intentionally block her way and the conductors laughed and abused her telling her she had no option but to board their bus," she said.
According to Flone 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 per cent 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 per cent 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.
Edited by R.Wamochie