Gender Equality Culture Measuring Attitudes Towards Gender Equality in the Transport Sector

Abstract

The transport industry is dominated by men. Globally, woman constitute only a few per cent of those working on board ships. Calculating the distribution of gender, wages, and positions provides an insufficient basis from which to address this imbalance; rather, we need to study the attitudes and norms that constitute “gender equality culture”. These qualitative aspects emphasize men’s and women’s life conditions, values, and ideals that affect their opportunities to exert influence in the workplace and society. They influence research and industry and must be highlighted to put gender equality high on the agenda. Experience from safety culture research was used together with a literature review to identify indicators and develop questions for a survey tool to measure and evaluate gender equality culture. This survey has been tested in the maritime sector by 546 employees in the Swedish Maritime Administration responsible for matters such as fairway maintenance, pilotage, and road ferries. The results indicated an overall strong equality culture that nevertheless had some weak areas. Significant differences were found, with men believing to a greater extent than women that the workplace was sufficiently equal and that no one was excluded because of gender. Women believed to a greater extent than men that they had better knowledge of gender equality goals and strategy and they perceived that there was more talk about how to increase gender equality. The results indicated potential to identify strengths and weaknesses as a basis for activities and learning in order to achieve an improved equality culture.