Driven out: women’s employment, the transport sector and social reproduction in Grand Tunis

ABSTRACT

Employment in the transport sector has historically proven to be male-dominated, even in countries like Tunisia which have evidenced public policy narratives and legal employment frameworks promoting gender equality. This paper presented the findings from a grounded research study examining women’s employment experiences in blue-collar roles in the transport sector of Greater Tunis. Drawing on extensive interviews with both female and male transport employees, as well as field observations, it demonstrates that familiar sectoral narratives of transport work as ‘too rough, too hard and too dirty for women’ can be understood through the broader political economy of the country and the transport sector within it. The research evidences the sustained and mutually-constitutive relationship between patriarchal cultural norms and capital’s development through successive periods of populist welfarism and neo-liberal governance, indicating that progressive advances in women's employment rights are not socio-economically embedded and suggesting that future research would be usefully informed by feminist social reproduction theory.

KEYWORDS:

• Women
• gender
• transport
• employment
• Tunisia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. XXXXXXXXX.

2. Société Nationale des Transport.

3. Société du Métro Léger de Tunis.

4. Société des Transports de Tunis.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/S05099/1].

Notes on contributors

Emma C. Murphy

Emma C. Murphy is professor of political economy in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University. Her research interests locate the MENA region within the wider global political economy and focus on processes of change that impact marginalised groups including women and young people.

Saerom Han

Saerom Han is Assistant Professor in Political Science and International Relations at Sookmyung Women's University, South Korea. Her research interests include global governance, security, development and civil society in MENA.

Hanen Keskes

Hanen Keskes is a researcher and development consultant. She is the founder and manager of Resolve Consulting, a Tunis-based policy and research consultancy firm. Her research interests include governance, critical security, and online and gender based violence.

Gina Porter

Gina Porter is a professor in the department of Anthropology at Durham University. Her research interests are principally focused around the mobilities of vulnerable groups in Africa, and experimentation with novel research methods. She has published widely in this field.