Women, work and transport

About the event

For the first three seminars of 2025, the Centre for Transport and Society (CTS) will be exploring the theme of Transport and Labour. In January, we're delighted to be joined by Professor Tessa Wright who will be talking on the topic of women, work and transport. Tessa is a Professor of Employment Relations at the Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity at Queen Mary University of London.

"Women play a vital role in the transport workforce worldwide, working in formal and informal jobs throughout road, rail, air and maritime modes of transport. Yet their experiences of work have been the subject of less academic attention than other male-dominated sectors, such as construction. Women account for one in five of the global transport workforce, mostly concentrated in administrative or customer-facing roles, and are typically lower paid than male workers. This presentation will provide an overview of the varied roles and conditions faced by women transport workers globally, drawing on chapters from the international collection Women, Work and Transport (edited by Tessa Wright, Lucy Budd and Stephen Ison), published in Emerald’s Transport and Sustainability series in 2022.

This wide-ranging research highlights women’s common experiences of negative gender stereotypes, gender-based violence, inadequate facilities, inflexible shift patterns, poor and informal working conditions and lack of access to promotion. However it also emphasises the role of the variety of actors necessary for change, including employers, trade unions, governments and industry networks, and the range of strategies available, such as mentoring schemes; training, career awareness and development; actions to tackle gender stereotypes, discrimination and workplace culture; and women’s organisation and representation. The talk will also discuss the opportunities for changing the status quo: for example, increasing awareness of gender inequality in transport; skills and labour shortages; sustainable practices and green technologies; international agreements on tackling violence in the sector, including gender-based violence; and trade union action and organisation."