About the possibility of women work in train driver and train driver assistant profession

Abstract

Introduction. The article presents the results of a survey of employees of the railway industry and volunteers of various professions on their attitude to the possibility of employment of women as a locomotive driver and assistant driver. The aim of study is to determine the socio-psychological aspects of allowing women to work as a driver and assistant driver of an electric train among employees of various professions, including in the railway industry. Materials and methods. Anonymous online survey conducted among 112 people: 60 women aged 29.9±7.9 years (from 19 to 55 years), and 52 men aged 29.6±8.4 years (from 15 to 53 years). Results. There is an ambiguous attitude to the prospects of allowing women to work as a driver and assistant driver of an electric train. The most urgent problems of an organizational nature that accompany changes in labor legislation are noted: the abolition of allowances "for harm", the increase in the retirement age, inconveniences in holiday homes that are currently designed exclusively for men. There are also positive prospects for these changes: the possibility of healthy professional competition and the emergence of new areas of professional growth for women, as well as increasing the prestige of OAS "Russian Railways" by creating an image of a company that provides candidates with equal rights regardless of gender. Conclusions. The appearance (although it would be more accurate to say "return") of women to work as drivers and assistant drivers is not a forced measure, as it was in wartime, but the result of the modernization of rolling stock and railway infrastructure, bringing to the fore the assessment of professionally important operator qualities, regardless of the gender of candidates. However, gender characteristics cannot be ignored in the socio-psychological context - for example, when recruiting locomotive crews with mixed composition or when creating a favorable psychological climate in a locomotive depot.