published: 17-10-2018
In 2015 a study from Panteia and PwC on the ‘Analysis of the trends and prospects of jobs and working conditions in transport’ was completed. One of the outcomes of this study was that all transport sectors are relatively more male dominated than the rest of the economy. This segregation is both horizontal (specific industries or sectors of the labour market are mostly made up of one gender) and vertical (opportunities for career progression for a particular gender are limited and narrow). Women are especially underrepresented in technical jobs (e.g. drivers) and about equally represented in administrative professions which offer good career opportunities. However, women cannot fully exploit these career opportunities since in top leadership positions women are underrepresented.
In the last couple of years not much progress has been made in increasing the percentage of female employment in transport, despite prioritisation by multiple stakeholders in the industry and several actions taken by them such as; Women in Rail (WiR), Women employment in the Urban Public Transport Companies in Europe (WISE), and actions or measures taken by individual transport companies.
Nevertheless, there are considerable indications that increasing female employment has multiple benefits. The most important benefit is that increasing the potential labour pool is reducing current labour shortages for some professions. Other benefits are for example a better team spirit, better employee engagement, better employee retention, increasing productivity, and higher safety.
In this study Panteia and partners will identify barriers for female employees to apply for a job in transport, barriers for employers to hire female employees, and measures that employers can take to increase the share of female employees. Further, we will assess the benefits and costs of these measures. This will be done by means of case studies, in which successful measures and practices are identified.