MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE (MTI)
Executive Summary
Globally, women account for 50% of the working age population, but only generate 37% of global gross domestic product (GDP). While women are making up more of the workforce than they were a few decades ago, some industries continue to struggle with attracting and retaining women. The attraction and retention of women in the transportation industry is an international challenge, even with the increases in women in the labor force and increases in educational attainment by women. The transportation industry includes any occupation, and is not solely limited to transportation engineering, planning, operations, maintenance, and research.
The objective of this study is to summarize previously conducted research and identify additional research needed to attract, promote, and retain women in the transportation industry. This study will detail major findings and subsequent recommendations, based on the annotated bibliography, of the current atmosphere and the most successful ways to attract and retain young women in the transportation industry in the future. Many times, it is perception that drives women away from the transportation industry, as communal goals are not emphasized in transportation. Men tend to be attracted to agentic goals, whereas women tend to be more attracted to communal goals. While this misalignment of goal congruity has been found to be one reason that women tend to avoid or leave the transportation industry, there are ways to highlight the goal congruity processes that contribute to transportation engineering decisions, thus attracting the most talented individuals, regardless of gender. Other literature has pointed to the lack of female role models and mentors as one reason that it is difficult to attract women to the transportation industry.
Many studies have found that attracting women to the transportation industry requires a multifaceted holistic approach. Diversifying the perception of the industry is necessary in order for women to consider careers in the transportation industry. Without showing that women belong in the industry, the attraction of qualified women will be difficult. To diversify the perception of the industry, it is imperative to connect with women early, and not just early in their careers. Connecting with school-aged girls at younger ages and piquing their interests in transportation early can increase the likelihood of attraction to the industry as they move into the career decision phase of their lifecycle. Aside from attracting women early, having a flexible and encouraging culture will help encourage women to join the transportation industry by removing the stigmas associated with it being a male-dominated industry. Attracting a diverse talent pool will require consideration of the motivating factors of the desired talent pool, focusing recruitment efforts on highlighting how organizations can fulfill those motivating factors. Those recruitment efforts should include examples of how both communal and agentic goals can be accomplished to ensure the ability to attract talent, no matter the personal goal congruity.
As the transportation industry improves at attracting women to the industry, additional efforts will need to focus on retention strategies to ensure that those talented women that join the industry remain in the industry. One key to retention is ensuring that organizations remain committed to the goals that were set initially to attract the diverse talent pool necessary to succeed in the transportation industry. Keeping set goals of creating diverse, flexible, welcoming work environments must be deliberate and intentional. It is important to document and distribute the deliberate diversity efforts throughout the industry, to improve the current transportation industry culture. Mentorship is another important ingredient to the retention of great talent in the industry, with a particular emphasis on same-gender mentor/mentee matches. Successful mentorship is a key element to succession planning within an organization. Additionally, clear steps to advancement and organized succession planning will contribute to the ability to retain a diverse talent pool, as clear paths reduce the likelihood of being overlooked for a promotion, or other discriminatory actions.
Introduction
The proportion of women aged 16 and older in the U.S. workforce has grown steadily from 29.6% in 1950 to 47.5% in 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the U.S. Census Bureau (Table S2401). However, the growth in women’s share of the labor force has not been homogeneous among occupations. Women account for the vast majority of preschool through middle school teachers, nurses, secretaries, and administrative assistants, and receptionists and information clerks, while men tend to account for large shares of drivers, laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, construction laborers, carpenters, and automotive service technicians and mechanics. The U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey began tracking occupation by sex in 2000, at which time women accounted for 12.1% of transportation occupations. As of 2017, women’s share of transportation occupation increased to 14.6%. This includes Transportation supervisors and material moving workers, aircraft and traffic control operations, motor vehicle operations, rail, water and other transportation occupations.
Despite the promotion of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) industry as valuable and desirable, many engineering firms are facing the impeding loss of retiring leadership without clear transition plans, and the transportation industry as a whole faces a growing shortage of transportation engineers. At the same time, the share of the population that is obtaining college degrees has been increasing. According to the American Community Survey data, the share of men that are 25-years-old or older with at least a bachelor’s degree increased from 28.4% in 2005 to 31.0% in 2016, while women’s educational attainment for the same age group over the same time increased from 26.0% to 38.9%, surpassing that of men.
The combination of the increasing share of women in the workforce, increasing educational attainment, and shortages of transportation engineers with a lack of comprehensive succession planning, all point to the necessity of tailoring the descriptions and perceptions of STEM careers, especially those in the transportation field, to be more gender inclusive. Without a shift in the outreach efforts of the industry, the transportation industry will struggle to evolve and progress over time through the attraction of the most talented selection pool of candidates. Diverse perspectives are incredibly important, especially in science, as they promote innovation and creativity to solve unique challenges associated with the needs of a diverse populace. As the importance of equity and inclusiveness increases, diverse solutions will require a diverse workforce.
This annotated bibliography will capture the work that has been done related to attracting, promoting, and retaining women in the transportation industry focusing on the resultant findings and recommendations in the literature. After the review of the current state of the practice in terms of female participation in the transportation industry, this annotated bibliography will describe the findings of research related to the attraction, promotion, and retention of females in the transportation industry. Research has pointed to many factors that affect the attraction of females to non-traditional female industries like STEM, such as the diversity of the perception of the organization, early connections with students, incentives, flexible workplaces, a welcoming culture, and the connection to congruent communal goals. The successful promotion of women in the transportation industry is related to opportunities for advancement and the availability of role models, especially female role models, to encourage and guide women, especially in pivotal points in their careers. Finally, the retention of women in the transportation industry is correlated with the actual culture that was mentioned in the retention of women, clear steps to advancement that were necessary for the promotion of women, and to the availability of ongoing mentorship and succession planning. Much of the previous research that has been completed resulted in recommendations to agencies and to the industry, which will be detailed in the conclusion of this annotated bibliography.
Findings
In order to fulfil the objectives of this study—that is, to identify current challenges associated with attracting women to the transportation industry—one must first understand the current state of the practice. This will allow us to explain why women account for less than 15% of the total transportation occupation workforce in 2017.
State of the Practice
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)’s Public Roads Magazine 2010 article on “Women in Transportation” revealed that while the proportion of women in the workforce has consistently increased since the 1950s, women remain underrepresented in engineering and the transportation industry. The article cited that just 10.4% of all civil engineers were women in 2008, and in other transportation and material moving occupations the percentage of full-time employed female workers was only 13%, even though women made up 46.5% of the total labor force. The article cited a lack of equity between sexes at the individual level, possibly related to gaps in education or a lack of role models. At the industry level, this contributes to unnecessary limitations on the talent pool, and deprives the transportation field of a vital source of talent. To combat this issue, leaders in the profession were interviewed, resulting in five recommendations. First, connect with children and young people through school programs and social media to promote science and engineering. Second, build relationships through networking. Third, participate in industry organizations and take leadership positions. Fourth, institutions would benefit from mentoring young professionals. Finally, recognize that workers have lives outside their jobs by ensuring flexibility in scheduling, facilitating telework, and avoiding the necessity for long work hours.
Download full version (PDF): Attracting and Retaining Women in the Transportation Industry
About the Mineta Transportation Institute
transweb.sjsu.edu
Founded in 1991, the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI), an organized research and training unit in partnership with the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business at San José State University (SJSU), increases mobility for all by improving the safety, efficiency, accessibility, and convenience of our nation’s transportation system. Through research, education, workforce development, and technology transfer, we help create a connected world.
Tags: Mineta Transportation Institute, MTI, transportation, women in transportation
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