This case study, submitted by the Gender Budget Watchdog Network (GBWN), presents evidence
from seven countries in the Western Balkans and Moldova demonstrating that unpaid care work is
a structural driver of women’s mobility patterns and must be integrated into climate-responsive
transport policy.
Based on quantitative survey data and qualitative focus group discussions with 100 participants
across Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova, and Serbia,
the research confirms that women’s daily mobility is fundamentally shaped by unpaid caregiving
responsibilities. Women’s travel patterns are characterized by frequent, multi-stop, time-sensitive
“trip chaining” linked to childcare, eldercare, healthcare access, and household management. Yet
transport systems across the region are not designed to accommodate these realities.
The research confirms that transport is not gender-neutral infrastructure. It determines access
to employment, healthcare, education, markets, and public life. When transport systems fail to
reflect care-driven mobility patterns, women are pushed toward private car dependency where
possible—undermining emissions reduction goals—or into economic inactivity and social isolation
where private transport is unavailable.
