The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and UITP (the International Association of Public Transport) have signed a joint agreement to strengthen women’s employment in public transport. The two parties will now work with unions and employers to implement the agreement in pilot cities, with an announcement of the first city expected later this year. This agreement, announced on International Women’s Day, is another step forward in advancing the role of women in our sector.

In 2018, UITP partnered with the World Bank to shed light on the needs of women as public transport users. The global campaign, ‘PT4ME’, was launched with the support of over 240 of UITP members who disseminated it from their stations and social networks. This year, for International Women’s Day (8 March 2019), and under the theme #BalanceforBetter, UITP is relaunching the PT4ME campaign and shifting the focus to women as workers in the public transport sector. ITF are proud supporters of the campaign.

UITP is also delighted to announce that Moovit, a leading Mobility as a Service (MaaS) provider and the world’s #1 urban mobility app, making getting around town easier and more convenient, will be disseminating our PT4ME messages from their mobile application! The special messages on International Women’s Day will be given further prominence due to Moovit’s global reach across 90 countries in the world.

The ITF and UITP agreement on women in public transport shows the practical recommendations for policies to strengthen women’s employment, equal opportunities and promote decent work. It covers nine areas:  Working culture and gender stereotypes, recruitment, work environment and design, facilities (including sanitation), health and safety at work, work-life balance, training, pay equality and corporate policy.

“It is clear that when you improve working conditions to support women’s employment, you improve public transport working conditions for everyone”, said Diana Holland
Chair of the ITF Women Transport Workers’ Committee. “That is why the recommendations in this agreement are so important; every worker and every passenger will benefit from their implementation. But it needs public transport workers and employers to work closely if the agreement is going to lead to real change. That’s why we are working with the UITP, and together we’ll identify pilot cities to implement the agreement and create a public transport system that everyone,
including women, deserves.”

Cécile Sadoux, Head of People Management at UITP added: “Women’s participation within the sector should not only be promoted, but actively celebrated, with strong institutional and top management support. We need to see changes and improvements in female participation rates from “onboard” our vehicles to “on the Board” of management throughout our organisations.”

• More women in public transport: ITF and UITP join forces to get women ‘onboard’ of public transport and ‘on the Board’ of public transport companies.