On the trams: women, men and urban public transport in Germany

Based on changing everyday technology such as the tramway at the end of the nineteenth century, and Undergrounds later, this article focuses on what difference gender has made in using and providing public transport systems. Noticeable differences between the travel patterns of men and women were already established in the nineteenth century (`Women give conductors twice as much trouble as men', 1897); they changed in the 1920s (`Modern women go by tram') and again with the advent of mass car ownership in the 1950s. The supply side of urban public transport was always dominated by men. They planned the systems, ran the undertakings, yet drove cars. Women at the controls are a familiar sight in any city nowadays, but they are still entering a man's world. And in the making of decisions about public transport women have always been sadly underrepresented. The article reflects on the implications of the heavily gendered structure of the planning professions.