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Madrid, March 12, 2021. One of the main challenges for the passenger transport sector in terms of employability is to make the profession of driver attractive to women. This challenge was debated at a conference within the framework of the III Women's Week organized by Alsa, with the participation of EMT of Madrid and the company Interbus. Although in Spain, according to the DGT census, 27.2% of bus drivers are women, with an increase of 4% in the last five years, the growth path is very positive if one takes into account that the issuance of bus driving licenses has increased by 89.65%, and this is the main requirement to access the profession.

According to a McKinsey study on the impact of covid on different professions, transport is one of the sectors that has suffered the least vulnerability to job loss, as it is an essential service. In this sense, women drivers have emerged strengthened. Julieta Micheo, Director of Institutional Relations and CSR of EMT of Madrid, referred to this in one of the round tables of the equality conference. "We work in a solid sector with stable professional projection," she said.

However, companies in the sector are faced with the difficulty of achieving equality in their workforces because, although there are many more now, there are still few women with bus driving licenses. Paola Fernández, Director of Human Resources of the Interbus Group, explains that "women who decide to enter this profession and obtain a license, do so as a reconversion, not as an early vocation, so when they enter they are usually around 35-40 years old." "We are in a market with many opportunities, more than feminized labor markets."

One of the main conclusions of the conference is that a cultural change is urgently needed in which people stop perceiving this profession as masculine, as a heavy job without the possibility of reconciliation. Although large urban centers have women more integrated into transport than in the periphery, positive discrimination measures in some companies or blind curricula in others are measures that require the support of administrations, to promote and facilitate the access of women to the profession, starting with groups in situations of unemployment.

In the case of Alsa, explains Verónica Marco, Director of People Management, "attracting female talent begins by giving visibility to the profession of driver or mechanic; incorporating indicators that measure equality to take more effective measures; carrying out communication and awareness campaigns; the absolute involvement of senior management and the Equality and Reconciliation Committee, such as the one we have established in Alsa."

The directors agreed that there are three keys that influence the incorporation of women into the mobility sector: support from public administrations, commitment from the Senior Management of companies; and, above all, that women have role models within the profession and can see them from the earliest stage of their training.

To conclude the conference, Alsa invited three drivers to share their professional experience behind the wheel: Chaxiraxi Jiménez, driver of tourist services at Alsa; Laura García, agent of the Mobile Customer Service and former driver of the EMT; and Irene García, Interbus driver.

The three explained that their entry into the profession was more circumstantial than vocational. They had other jobs and for various reasons ended up trying it in the mobility sector, as drivers, and all conclude that it was a great decision for their personal and professional lives. As Laura García herself said, "it is the best thing I have done in my life for my economic independence and for the ability to reconcile, because although I am not a mother I have other family responsibilities."

Specifically, Chaxiraxi's case is peculiar, since Alsa in the Canary Islands has absolute parity between driving personnel and, in total, 70% of the company's workforce on the islands are women. An unprecedented case that she attributes to the fact that internal promotion is done within the company itself so that women who work as assistants on school buses can be promoted and access the profession of drivers more directly. "They are given the opportunity to make the leap to drivers and many accept," said the Canarian driver, in part because they see them working and as an example that they can dedicate themselves to it.

For Irene, Interbus driver, "the relationship with travelers is very easy in urban and interurban areas because it is very normal to see women driving, but on long journeys it is more shocking to passengers. However, that is changing little by little. To those who I would put a monument of gratitude is to the colleagues for the treatment without distinction of gender."

The three professionals agreed that in order to attract more women, it is necessary to give access opportunities and even offer to be consulted and spend time with them so that those interested know the advantages of this profession: job security, the possibility of exploiting an unknown potential, learning a qualified job, as well as the feeling of family among drivers regardless of the company to which they belong.