WOMEN IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT
4. Introducing technology to advance gender equality New technology is one of the biggest challenges facing workers, affecting women’s employment and equality in public transport. This section suggests strategies to ensure that technology produces benefits for women workers and does not exacerbate existing inequality. Further information about technological developments in public transport, including challenges for workers and workers’ responses, can be found in: ·
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The Impact of the Future of Work for Women in Public Transport: ITF report based on research in five cities which discusses the impact of technological change on women’s employment and includes case studies of trade union action.99 Worker Control of Technology: The Smart City: Chapter 5 of the People’s Public Transport Policy.100
Technological change in public transport has the potential to improve employment for women workers – providing new opportunities for work, improving operation and safety, and offering more flexible working hours and patterns. But without worker consultation and union involvement, new technology can lead to job losses, downgrading of jobs and health and safety concerns. It can also further reduce gender equality.
The basis of technological change is digitalisation – the increasing use of digital technology, such as the automation of ticketing and the growth of digital platforms (online intermediaries that connect and control information between producers, distributors, employers, workers, and consumers101, such as Uber). New technology and digitalisation are applied through a biased, one-size-fits-all approach that fails to account for human diversity. Women’s historic exclusion from the workplace and from decision-making means that their experiences are ignored in the development of new technologies, and technology can reinforce discrimination and inequality. Technology introduced to set work targets or shift schedules, for example, frequently ignore women’s disproportionate share of caring responsibilities and need for work-life balance. Women facing intersecting inequalities, such as those based on race, are disproportionately affected. Black and minority ethnic women are overrepresented in the lowest paid jobs which are at greatest risk of being negatively affected by technology. Racial biases also exist in technology.102 New technology is changing the skills needed for work and leads to more highly skilled jobs, but recruitment and training into these upskilled jobs is more likely to target men, which means that women may miss out on potential opportunities.
For women in the sector, technological development risks reinforcing both the existing inequalities in the workplace and an economic model that incentivises precarious and informal work.
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