Beyond a man's world: Contributions from considering gender in the study of bus drivers' work activity

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Bus driving is a typically male occupation undergoing a process of feminization. Although men remain a majority, women's integration has raised some questions, namely, related to work organization or its impact on health. OBJECTIVE: This paper focuses on the contributions of assuming a gender perspective in the analysis of the bus driving occupation and the conditions under which it is performed. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty female and 158 male bus drivers. METHODS: Qualitative and quantitative approaches were combined. Ergonomic work analysis and individual interviews were used, as well as INSAT (Work and Health Questionnaire). RESULTS: Difficulties inherent to the work activity were highlighted, in terms of working hours and management of "peripheral tasks", with implications for the balance between professional and personal life. These difficulties were reported differently by men and women, although both made themselves clear about the impact on their career and health. CONCLUSIONS: Taking gender into consideration has enabled an enrichment of the questions that guide the analysis of this work activity, and contributed to a new perspective on the work performed by this occupational group as well as a new approach to study the history of the transport industry by proposing as focus of analysis issues related to "gender mobility".

Selection of gender‐incongruent applicants: No gender bias with structured interviews

“…Six‐hundred and ninety‐one (563 men and 128 women) applicants were interviewed by 20 interviewers (6 men, 14women). We identified this organization as largely male dominated, in line with research, suggesting that city bus driving is perceived as a prototypically male job (e.g., Cunha et al, ; Sanchez de Miguel et al, ) and news reports, indicating that 87% of bus, streetcar, and subway drivers is male (Moore, ). Specific gender distribution statistics for this organization were not available.…”

“…Similarly, Sacco, Scheu, Ryan, and Schmitt () found no gender bias effects during the hiring of college student applicants for a range of manufacturing positions using a structured interview. The current study aimed to replicate McCarthy et al’s () and Sacco et al’s () findings and to extend them to the position of public transit operator that is perceived and experienced as masculine and male dominated (Cunha, Nogueira, & Lacomblez, ; Sanchez de Miguel, Lizaso, Larranaga, & Arrospide, ). Examining how the structured interview fares in the field with a male‐dominated position is needed, as research thus far has been limited to testing structured interviews with gender‐neutral positions or in simulation studies.…”

“…However, we cannot discount that the magnitude of results may differ across professions. The high public safety stakes of the public transit operator job, coupled with the profession's perceived “masculinity” (Cunha et al, ; Sanchez de Miguel et al, ) and male‐dominated gender distribution (Moore, 2017), increase the likelihood that gender‐biased ratings can seep into the hiring process. However, there may be other jobs with a greater threat of gender bias against women applicants as compared to public transit operators, warranting further research with other professions on the efficacy of the structured interview.…”

The gendered impacts of technological change for public transport workers in the Global South

“…Hamilton et al, 2005;Turner, 2012) and its restrictive effect on women's labour market participation (Dobbs, 2007) or on female-dominated areas such as cabin crew (Hochschild, 1983;Simpson, 2004;2005;Whitelegg, 2009), although there are a small number of historical accounts of women transport workers (Rotondaro, 2004;Stanley, 2008;Wojtczak, 2005). Some exceptions include a study of the effects on women managers of restructuring in the transport and logistics sector (Simpson et al, 2003) and research on women urban transport workers in Europe (Cunha et al, 2014;Project WISE, 2012;Scheller, 2011). The benefits to employers of including more women in the transport workforce can be to address skills or labour shortages, to benefit from skills that women may bring to the role such as communication with passengers, and the introduction of more flexible work patterns that can assist all workers and may improve retention rates (Project WISE, 2012).…”

Development and Validation of a Health and Work Survey Based on the Rasch Model among Portuguese Workers

“…At this point, it is fundamental to assume a more global, multidimensional, and integrated approach to occupational health assessment and recognise the multifactorial status of health problems [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. The development of an instrument that meets these requirements has two main goals.…”