Transport jobs are often well paid, yet women are still underrepresented at all levels (decision-making, planning, construction, management, operations, and maintenance) in the sector. This is the case for both passenger and freight and all modes. Some 104 of the world’s economies have at least one restriction on women’s employment. In addition, the World Bank’s report Women, Business and the Law (https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl) finds that 19 countries around the world legally restrict women from working in the transport sector in the same way as men. Countries such as Belize, Dominica, and Nigeria, have legal restrictions stopping women from working in the transport of goods or people at night. This is likely due to old-fashioned and outdated colonial-era laws based on previous International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions. Other countries including the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan have laws that mean that some transport sector jobs are off-limits to women, including train, truck, metro, or bus drivers. Saudi Arabia only allowed women to drive a few years ago. Some strong transport trade unions also have restrictions which may also stop women from taking up transport jobs. On average, economies that mandate equal pay tend to have higher levels of female employment in all sectors, including all subsectors of transport, have better governance and have higher incomes (with the majority being in the global north).

There are several legal issues for women working in public transport – for example, lack of maternity rights, long working hours, vehicle design and uniforms, wage inequality and poor facilities, as well as violence that makes the sector unattractive for them to work in. We know that these issues can impact women’s employment in the sector.

Lack of safe access to bathroom facilities and/or appropriate PPE (personal protective equipment) also has a substantial impact on the health, safety, and dignity of transport workers, with additional impacts for women. If there is no provision of separate facilities for women, this also sends a clear message about how women are seen in the industry.

Since the 1920s, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has been addressing the issue of violence in the workplace, and for decades it has advised on policies and programmes to eliminate sex discrimination and working practices in all sectors. Violence against transport workers has been identified as one of the most important factors affecting the attraction and retention of women in transport jobs (ILO, 2013). In response to the alarming increase in violence against women from third parties in the transport sector, transport companies, in consultation with workers and their representatives, have implemented a range of safety measures.

There remain wide gender gaps in pay parity - this is true for all sectors but is particularly true in transport, and most pronounced in informal transport services. The World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report 2017 benchmarked 144 countries on their progress towards gender parity across four thematic dimensions. It found a global gap of 42% between men and women in labour force participation and earned income.