Chile has consolidated its position as a regional benchmark in the incorporation of the gender perspective in public transportation. This was reflected in the III Meeting of the Latin American Gender and Mobility Observatory (OBGEM), held recently in Bogota, where the Chilean case was one of the most outstanding for its progress in equity policies and female participation.
The meeting brought together representatives of transportation agencies from eight Latin American cities, including Santiago, together with multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, IDB, CAF, GIZ-Euroclima and the French Development Agency (AFD).
Since the creation of the Gender Equity Policy in Transport in 2018, one of the first in the world, the Metropolitan Public Transport Directorate (DTPM) has developed four pillars of action: care mobility, safety, gender mainstreaming and de-masculinization of the sector.
Thanks to these policies, the presence of women in public transportation has grown steadily. In 2014, only 1% of bus drivers in Red Movilidad were women. Today, Santiago has 2,156 female drivers, equivalent to 12.13% of the total, which represents an increase of 125% since 2022 and makes it the city with the most female public transport drivers in all of Latin America.
"Incorporating a gender approach in mobility is not only a matter of justice, but also of efficiency and sustainability. When we plan thinking about those who care, those who travel accompanied, those who need to feel safe in their journey, we build a public transport more humane and representative of our society," says Paola Tapia Salas, director of the DTPM.
This progress has been possible thanks to initiatives such as the Women Drivers Program, which provides scholarships to obtain the A3 professional license and facilitates the labor insertion of women in the system with state and private support.
With its combination of electromobility and women behind the wheel, Red Movilidad has become a symbol of the cultural change that Chile is leading in the region.