WOMEN IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT
5. Involving women in decision-making and policy
can mean that women are made to feel unwelcome or are not comfortable in negotiations, so unions also need to campaign to change the culture and to empower women.
Women – including women transport workers – need to be involved in policy decision-making and planning around public transport to ensure that specific issues for women are addressed. This section outlines how unions can campaign to ensure that this happens and emphasises the importance of promoting women’s activism in unions.
At the development and planning stage, unions can also lobby for the use of gender impact assessments, labour impact assessments that include gender, and the use of gender-disaggregated data to identify how policies can be developed to meet the needs of women as transport workers and passengers. This can also help to better understand the economic and social impacts of public transport projects on women.
5.1 INVOLVING WOMEN IN DECISION-MAKING The development of new transport systems and/or changes to existing systems have the potential to bring huge benefits for women public transport workers. But to build a sustainable public transport system characterised by decent work, the needs and concerns of women need to be meaningfully included in decision-making. Without women on decision-making bodies, public transport infrastructure will not adequately represent or address the issues that women face. This means that women – as both workers and passengers – need to be involved in development, decision-making, planning and implementation of any public transport policy. Social dialogue, negotiation and consultation are opportunities to ensure that women’s voices are heard and for their concerns to be integrated into public transport policymaking. Unions can use social dialogue to ensure policy developments specify the benefits to gender equality that public transport infrastructure will bring, including women’s increased participation in decent public transport jobs. This includes incorporating quotas or targets towards gender parity and women being in union negotiating teams. However, unions must recognise that quotas and targets alone are not enough to make sustainable gains. Gender stereotypes and perceptions
Gender demands should also be integrated into investment principles for funding of public transport infrastructure projects. Trade unions can lobby IFIs such as the World Bank and the IFC to ensure rigorous provisions are put in place in all lending policies so that labour rights are protected, decent work and gender equality are promoted through funded projects and there are consequences for non-adherence. Trade unions can also campaign for women workers to be involved in consultations throughout project design, development and implementation. Women workers can demand the use of gender-disaggregated data and gender impact assessments to identify the impact of measures on women’s livelihoods, employment opportunities and safety and security.
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