For millions of Pakistani women, travelling from one place to another is not simply a daily routine; it is often a journey through uncertainty, discomfort and fear. A university student travelling to class, a teacher going to school, a nurse returning home after a long shift, or a working woman commuting to her workplace may all depend on local transport. Yet the very system that should connect women with education, employment, healthcare and social opportunities can become a space where their dignity and safety are threatened. This raises a fundamental question: how can women participate equally in Pakistan’s social and economic life when travelling through public spaces can itself become a source of fear? Women’s safety and harassment in local transport should therefore not be treated as an ordinary inconvenience or an unavoidable part of daily life. It is a serious issue of gender equality, freedom of movement, public safety and human security.
Harassment in local transport takes many forms. Women may face unwanted staring, inappropriate comments, sexual gestures, verbal abuse, stalking, unwanted physical contact and other forms of intimidation. Importantly, harassment does not necessarily begin when a woman enters a bus or van. It can begin while she is walking towards a bus stop, waiting for transport, boarding a vehicle, travelling inside it and even walking from the destination to her final location. A Women’s Safety Audit of public transport in Lahore, involving 903 women commuters and 100 bus drivers and conductors, documented concerns including staring, stalking, obscene gestures, whistling, lewd remarks and unwanted touching. The study also identified concerns about bus stops and inadequate infrastructure. These findings demonstrate that transport safety cannot be understood simply by asking whether a vehicle itself is secure. A woman’s entire journey must be considered.
Evidence from different Pakistani cities demonstrates that the problem is neither isolated nor insignificant. A World Bank analysis of the 2019 Peshawar Urban Household Survey found that around one in three women reported experiencing sexual harassment in public spaces. Reported experiences included inappropriate staring or comments, sexual gestures and other forms of harassment. The World Bank also noted that such figures may underestimate the actual scale of the problem because fear and social norms can restrict women’s mobility and discourage them from reporting their experiences. In Karachi, World Bank documentation has cited estimates suggesting that between 55 and 80 percent of women had experienced sexual harassment on public transportation. Consultations conducted for Karachi’s mobility planning also identified harassment both during journeys and while women were waiting for buses. These figures should not simply be viewed as statistics. Behind every percentage is a woman who may have experienced humiliation, fear or insecurity while travelling to fulfil an ordinary responsibility.
The most damaging consequence of transport harassment may extend beyond the incident itself. When women do not feel safe travelling, their mobility becomes restricted, and restricted mobility can mean restricted opportunities. A female student may choose a university closer to home rather than an institution offering better educational opportunities. A professional may reject a job because travelling to the workplace is difficult or unsafe. A woman may avoid travelling after sunset, depend on family members for transportation or spend more money on private transport because she does not feel comfortable using public buses or vans. Research concerning women’s mobility in Karachi has shown that safety concerns and gender norms can influence women’s transportation decisions and their willingness to challenge harassment. The World Bank has similarly emphasized the connection between safe and reliable transportation and women’s access to employment in Karachi. Therefore, women’s safety in transport should also be understood as an economic-development issue. When women cannot travel freely, society loses part of its potential workforce, students lose educational opportunities and families may face additional financial burdens.
Another major concern is the silence surrounding harassment. Many women do not report incidents because they fear embarrassment, victim-blaming, confrontation, social pressure or a lack of meaningful institutional response. The Lahore Women’s Safety Audit found extremely low awareness of emergency helplines and mobile applications for reporting sexual harassment and also highlighted limited awareness of relevant laws and reporting mechanisms. This creates a dangerous cycle in which harassment occurs, the victim remains silent, the perpetrator faces little or no consequence, the behaviour becomes normalized and another woman eventually experiences the same problem. Silence should therefore never be interpreted as evidence that harassment is rare. Sometimes silence is evidence of a system in which victims do not believe that reporting will produce justice.
Pakistan already has laws that address certain forms of harassment in public spaces. Section 509 of the Pakistan Penal Code addresses conduct involving words, gestures and other acts intended to insult the modesty of a person, with provisions that encompass public places including public transport. The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010, also provides a legal framework for addressing harassment in employment settings. However, legislation alone cannot solve the problem. The real test is implementation. A woman using a bus should not need to become a legal expert before she can feel protected. She needs accessible reporting mechanisms, trained transport staff, responsive authorities and confidence that her complaint will be taken seriously.
For too long, the responsibility for avoiding harassment has largely been placed on women. Women are often told not to travel alone, to avoid certain routes, to change their clothing, to avoid travelling at particular times or to find someone to accompany them. Such advice may sometimes be intended to protect women, but it also shifts responsibility away from perpetrators and institutions. The more important question is not “How can women avoid harassment?” but “How can society and institutions prevent harassment?” Transport authorities must improve lighting around bus stops and stations, strengthen security measures, establish accessible complaint mechanisms and provide appropriate training for drivers, conductors and transport personnel. Authorities should also collect reliable gender-disaggregated data on harassment so that transport policies are based on evidence rather than assumptions.
There are already examples of efforts in this direction. In Karachi, safety measures associated with the Yellow Line mobility project have included proposed improvements such as lighting, CCTV, reporting facilities and anti-harassment messaging. In Peshawar, anti-harassment messages have also been displayed in BRT buses. Such initiatives are important because they communicate a clear message: harassment is not normal and passengers have the right to seek help. Nevertheless, these measures must be accompanied by effective monitoring, enforcement and public awareness. Technology alone cannot create safety if complaints disappear into bureaucratic systems and perpetrators face no consequences.
Ultimately, women’s safety in local transport is about much more than buses, vans, stations or roads. It is about whether women can exercise their basic freedom of movement and participate fully in society. A university student should not have to choose between educational opportunity and personal safety. A working woman should not have to reject employment because she fears the journey home. A nurse should not have to worry that travelling after a late shift will expose her to harassment. A mother should not have to depend entirely on male family members simply because public transportation does not provide her with sufficient security.
Pakistan cannot claim meaningful progress in women’s education, employment and empowerment while unsafe mobility continues to restrict women’s participation in public life. The solution is not simply to create more women-only spaces, although such arrangements may provide useful options in certain circumstances. The larger goal should be to develop a public transport system in which safety, dignity and accountability are normal for everyone. A successful transport system should not only move people from one destination to another; it should allow them to make that journey safely, freely and with dignity. For Pakistani women, the right to travel without fear should not be a privilege. It should be a basic condition of citizenship and human security.
