For International Women’s Day, the Scotland Hub organised a panel reception on the theme of Active Travel & Gender. Over 60 guests gathered in Arup’s brand new office in Edinburgh to hear from regional experts on the topic.
Photos: Event speakers, guests networking and seating for the panel discussion
The event started with a welcome address from Sonya Byers, CEO of Women in Transport, who provided an introduction to the organisation, its aim and regional impact, and a summary of key past and future activities. It was followed by a keynote speech from Holly Bruce, Glasgow Councillor, who recently passed a motion for Glasgow to be a Feminist City.
Holly explained how she became involved in the motion and the different initiatives the city has implemented since to embed the Feminist city approach across policy areas. Some of these range from political oversight and steering group over policy making, whilst other are infrastructure improvements such as lighting in parks and bus stops. Holly stressed that the feminist city approach was as much about the end result than about the process itself.
Then, Mark Bowman, Associate Director at Arup, chaired a panel of experts discussing different perspectives on Active Travel and Gender. We were delighted to host:
Heather Williams – Training Lead at Scottish Women Budgeting Group
Sheena Raeburn – Director at Raeburn Farquhar Bowen
Karen McGregor – Scotland Director at Sustrans
Kelly Wiltshire - Strategic Transport Services Manager at Moray Council
The Q&A session overed a range of fascinating topics including the need to collect appropriate data, to go beyond a ‘single-mode’ approach, to engage meaningfully with communities, to define relevant and non-gendered KPIs (what’s an everyday journey? What is the value of ‘miles travelled’?), as well as suggestions to bridge the implantation gap between ambitious policies and impact on the ground.
The panel discussion was followed by networking with refreshments generously provided by our sponsor Arup.
This is some of the feedback we received:
‘A really well attended, insightful event with great speakers and panel’
‘Last night was great - well done on a very successful evening’
‘Glad I got to see some familiar faces, meet new professionals in the industry and hear from a fantastic line up of panellists.’
‘What a fantastic evening and first toe dipped into the Women in Transport Scotland Hub events. Thanks to all the speakers for the thought provoking and impactful discussions about Active Travel and Gender.’
If you haven't had a chance to become a member yet but would like to do so, please head to https://www.womenintransport.com/membership to get exclusive access to our wide range of online and in person professional development, mentoring and networking events.
If you would like to pass some feedback, host a Women in Transport event or have suggestions of future themes and activities please get in touch at scotland@womenintransport.com .
