S.

Beller EV Schauer

The Mobility of Care-Givers and Essential

Women Workers Pre- and Post- COVID
Webinar Series: Findings from mainstreaming gender data
TRB Standing Committee on Women and Gender in Transportation (AME20)
November 18th, 2020
DR. LUCIA MEJIA-DORANTES – INDEPENDENT POLICY RESEARCHER
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Transport needs

 Transport plays a fundamental role to

exercise our rights as citizens

 It triggers opportunities or barriers to carry

out our daily activities

S.Beller
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Mobility & accessibility needs

 Barriers may be classified as:

 Accessibility

 Economic

 Emotional

 Health and institutional

 They trigger social exclusion

Mejia Dorantes and SotoVillagran, 2020

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Mobility & accessibility needs

 Barriers may be classified in:

 Accessibility

 Economic

 Emotional

 Health and institutional

 They trigger social exclusion

https://www.odishabytes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Mo-Bus-rate-chart-ctc-bbsr.jpg

Mejia Dorantes and SotoVillagran, 2020

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Mobility & accessibility needs

 Barriers may be classified in:

 Accessibility

 Economic

 Emotional

 Health and institutional

 They trigger social exclusion

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/one-in-four-women-feels-unsafe-
using-public-transport-in-london-7602939.html

Mejia Dorantes and SotoVillagran, 2020

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Mobility & accessibility needs

 Barriers may be classified in (Mejia Dorantes and SotoVillagran, 2020):

 Accessibility

 Economic

 Emotional

 Health and institutional

 They trigger social exclusion

Merciu et al (2013): Accessibility to hospitals in Bucharest and Metropole

Mejia Dorantes and SotoVillagran, 2020

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Mobility & accessibility needs

 Barriers may be classified in (Mejia Dorantes and SotoVillagran, 2020):

 Accessibility

 Economic

https://financialtribune.com/articles/people/55485/youth-
 Emotional

 Health and institutional

houses-in-provinces-to-tackle-social-exclusion
 They trigger social exclusion

Mejia Dorantes and SotoVillagran, 2020

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Mobility & Urban Planning

 Women use more public transport to carry out their daily activities. Men rely much more on
private transportation

 Women have different mobility needs and mobility profiles than men: Many trips are
related to mobility of care

 In the last years major cities experienced a rise in dwelling costs due to poor urban
planning and the pressure from tourism and unregulated sharing platforms,

 It made many local residents (especially medium- and low-income people) move to
fringe areas increasing their commuting time and costs → more relevant for women as
they have more household responsibilities and suffer the gender gap
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Gender Gap

 Gender gap is used to describe the differences between women and men in the labor
market (EIGE, 2019)
 The main issues concerning the gender gap are:
 Employment rate
 part-time work
 unpaid care and family responsibilities
 access to rights and assets (professions and decision-making positions)
 working conditions
 Hourly wages(gender pay gap)
 And other possibilities for economic independence
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Gender gap: men earn more than
women in every occupation

 OECD countries have an

average between 10%-
20% with an average of
13%. It went down in most
of these countries
 According to the EIGE
(2019) in Europe women
are paid 16.4% less than
men

https://www.oecd.org/els/LMF_1_5_Gender_pay_gaps_for_full_time_workers.pdf
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Gender gap: Dimensions and
Components

Source: Eurostat, Labour Force Survey (2018)

https://eige.europa.eu/covid-19-and-gender-equality/frontline-workers
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Gender gap: Dimensions and
Components
Dimensions:

https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en


/album/M-004209/P-042059~2F00-06
 Allocative Discrimination: The work of women is
devaluated and paid less than that of men
 Evaluative Discrimination: Lower wages for women
and men in certain “female” occupations”→ cleaners
 Components:
Vertical Segregation: “Male hierarchies” even in

http://www.nordiclabourjournal.org/nyhete

women dominated professions
 Horizontal Segregation: „male occupations“ i.e.

Bjørn Lønnum Andreassen

women in transportation
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Gender gap: Dimensions and
Components

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-
 Dimensions:
 Allocative Discrimination: The work of women is

eurostat-news/-/EDN-20180307-1
devaluated and paid less than that of men
 Evaluative Discrimination: lower wages for women
and men in certain (female occupations)→ cleaners
 Components:
 Vertical Segregation: “Male hierarchies” even in
women dominated professions
 Horizontal Segregation: „male occupations“ i.e.
women in transportation

Female driver in the firm GT Location.

Quelle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7VmMHPG0Cw&t=6s
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Women‘s job profile

 According to the EIGE (2020), in the EU women make up:

 93% of child care workers and tearchers‘ aides;

 86% of personal care workers in health services

 95% of domestic cleaners and helpers

 Women are more likely to be in temporary, part-time and precarious employment

than men: These jobs often come with lower pay, weaker legal protection and
difficulties accessing social protection

https://eige.europa.eu/covid-19-and-gender-equality/frontline-workers
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And the COVID-

19 came and
impacted our
lives…
John Hopkins – Coronavirus Resource Center
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
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Rich-poor differences

Dad is again
…we are saying bad
facing a virus words
that does not
distinguish
between rich He is having a
and poor. very bad time
due to the
COVID
quarantine

Vergara, Bernardo (2020). Ricos y Pobres. El Diario 27.08.20 https://www.eldiario.es/opinion/ricos-pobres_131_6186282.html

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Differentiated impacts: We need to focus

 Women are suffering more than men from the

consequences of the Corona-crisis, as they must deal
more with unpaid family work, and jobs

 Gender segregation in the labor market leads to

different levels of exposure to Covid-19 for women and
men

 People who telework: High-skilled workers with better

wages

 In the USA less than 30% workers could work from home
Eldar Nurkovic/Shutterstock.com
https://eige.europa.eu/covid-19-and-gender-equality/frontline-workers
(EPI, 2020) and in EU this share is slightly lower, 25%
(JRC, 2020)
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Essential and frontline workers profile

 Care givers and frontline workers are not able to telework,

they have longer commuting trips, and worst working

https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2020/ar
conditions

Data from the EPI in the USA (2020) shows that Black and

ticle/mobile/essential-work.htm


Hispanic workers are less likely to telework (19,7% and 16%)

 Many of the frontline workers lack of a sufficient health

insurance or social security. They depend on the good will
of employers, as they may be irregular workers

 This situation is expelling women from the labor market and

affecting women’s well-being
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Re-think urban and transport policies

 The lack of a real social-component in sustainable transport and urban

policies has directly impacted the most vulnerable people

 We need to focus on policies targeting care-givers and essential workers.

Highly transit dependent, they keep commuting with more barriers than
before (lower frequencies, higher risks)

 Small-medium cities also need essential services (and workers). Urban

planning should be based on a mixed-land use, to ease mobility of care
and household unpaid work.

 Safety in public transport must be worldwide addressed, along with the

increase of domestic violence and new forms of violence due to
misinformation: attacks in public transport to health workers
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Conclusions

 The pandemic may increase the gender gap and diminish previous efforts and achievements

 It may trigger social exclusion. Transport is a very powerful tool to fight it

 The recognition of women in care-work and essential jobs is urgent worldwide, we need
campaigns making visible:

 The unequal distribution of care responsibilities at home

 The gender gap and its unequal pandemic impacts

 Discriminatory norms and attitudes

 Gender mainstreaming: Integration of gender equality perspective at all stages

 We need to develop better methodologies to understand mobility needs of these groups

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Caregivers and essential workers:
Making them visible – an example
Sofía Moro: Cuidadoras (Caregivers) – PhotoESPAÑA / Equity Ministry (Spain)

© Sofía Moro © Sofía Moro © Sofía Moro © Sofía Moro

Moro, Sofía (2020) Cuidadoras. 7 relatos de vida. Ministerio de Igualdad – Photo ESPAÑA. https://www.phe.es/phe20-cuidadoras-7-relatos-de-vida/
 us!
THANKS!
them so they
can take care of
Let‘s take care of
22

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