Women Bus Drivers in Lima and Callao: How Did They Start, Under What Conditions Do They Work, and What Are Their Opinions About Being Drivers?

Abstract

The present article identified the factors that have contributed to the presence / absence of women in passenger transport driving positions in Lima and Callao. For this purpose, 17 female drivers from the conventional transport in Lima and Callao were interviewed (from a total of 180 licensed drivers at the beginning of 2023). The study found a female workforce that, despite coming from family backgrounds linked to that sector, continues to overcome mostly cultural barriers, and which currently reflects the informal conditions of the commission-affiliate scheme still in force in the conventional transport system studied, whose flexibility and profitability, paradoxically, allows some drivers to compensate for their work inside and outside the home.

The research’s contribution lies in highlighting the need to address the working conditions of women in public transport in Lima and Callao, specifically of female drivers as an essential actor in the sector’s value chain. These inputs become mandatory reading for policy makers and transport entrepreneurs in Lima and Callao, of Peru and any other territory seeking to close the gender gap in markets that are not completely formal.