Gender Equality

Only 22% of transport workers are women, which makes transport one of the most gender segregated sectors of the economy.

Transport jobs are gradually becoming more open to women, but the workplace culture in many transport industries is still male-focused. Furthermore, the sector has a lot of work to do to ensure that women have equal access to employment with equal pay and career opportunities. Women transport workers also face shocking levels of harassment and violence. Until these problems are addressed, women’s participation and leadership in the sector will not improve significantly.

Following the vision and objectives of the ETF Campaign Fair Transport for Europe, the ETF Women’s Committee strives for the improvement of women’s employment and quality of work. We campaign for a violence-free workplace and fight against the social dumping and precarious work that affect women transport workers. That is why the central theme of the ETF work programme on gender equality for 2017-2022 is Fair Transport in Europe, fair jobs for women.

More specifically, we aim to address these challenges through our main priorities:

• Saying NO to violence against women transport workers in Europe.
• Making the transport sector more attractive for women.
• Fighting for the principle of “equal pay for work of equal value” for women transport workers.
• Building a pool of ETF women trainers.
• Addressing the impacts of digitalisation and automation on women employment.

Read more about our priorities.