Understanding and Improving Gender Diversity in the Public Transport Workforce

The transport sector has one of the lowest female workforce participation rates across all industries, with those women employed in the sector clustered predominantly within traditionally female roles. With unprecedented growth in patronage and investment, workforce projections forecast significant skills shortages across the sector. Women’s increased participation is vital to the sustainable and effective growth of public transport in Victoria.

Public transport delivers an essential service to the community. A well-functioning society and economy relies on an effective, accessible public transport system. As such, the inclusion of female perspectives is essential to ensure gender differences in transport usage and mobility patterns are considered in public transport research, service design and delivery. It is also important that the workforce reflects the community it serves.

This research aims to explore the experiences of women within the public transport sector in Victoria and to understand the barriers to their equal participation and progression. By applying a gender lens to transportation systems, it also seeks to explore the wider social and economic benefits of addressing gender imbalance within the sector.

This project is part of the Sustainable and Effective Public Transport – Graduate Research Industry Partnership (SEPT-GRIP) and is supervised by Professor Margaret Alston OAM and Dr Kerri Whittenbury. The project is being undertaken by Rachel Mence and is sponsored by Transport for Victoria and Monash University.