Promoting women drivers on the Red Metropolitana de Movilidad

The pandemic decreased the number of drivers in public transport. For the optimal functioning of the system, it is essential to recover and increase this number. Given this, we recognised the possibility of providing a labour space for women to be financially independent, while also promoting gender equality and addressing the current gender imbalance in the sector.

As a result of a public-private alliance, we are encouraging the participation of women in the world of public transportation, breaking paradigms in a highly masculine sector. In addition, women are not only motivated by this, but also feel that being public transport drivers is a real opportunity for their professional development, thus opening new workspaces for them.

That leads to a win-win situation, because, on the one hand, these new job opportunities allow women to be economically independent, and on the other hand, the system gains highly committed workers, increasing the number of drivers in our post-pandemic situation.

The programme increased the participation of women in public transport from 5.7% to 7.5% in just 4 months after implementation.

This was made possible due to a public-private partnership, providing new opportunities for labour insertion and economic independence in a system that has historically been dominated by men.

This programme also realises what was addressed by the study “Labour inclusion of women in the management of Santiago’s public transportation system” (IDB, 2018), which demonstrates the impact of women’s participation, both in better operational standards, as well as in their quality of life.