Everybody Wins When More Women Are in the Transportation Industry
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EVERYBODY WINS WHEN MORE WOMEN ARE IN THE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY by KRISTIE DRAWE Final Report Submitted to the Capstone Project Committee in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering Technical Management Texas A&M University Professor, Professor Dr. Behood Zoghi Project Sponsor Diane Woodend Jones, Lea+Elliott Copyright 2020 Kristie Drawe IRB2021-0098, Approved 01/29/2021 DEDICATION To the bold and strong women and men who are taking a stance to accelerate our world to eliminate gender biases and discrimination against women and girls. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The thought of writing a paper and conducting national research study can feel daunting. But this journey has not felt like an isolated project. My first thanks must go to Ms. Diane Woodend Jones, who has been an incredible resource and mentor, eliciting questions that have helped sharpen my logic. As the Chair of WTS International, her commitment to equity and access for women in transportation careers has created opportunities for me to partner with intelligent leaders who were part of the beta test group* and provided me with access to survey participants in the transportation industry. I would like to thank my department head and course professor, Dr. Behood Zoghi for believing in the paper’s vision with unadmitted incredible enthusiasm and providing nothing short of his full authentic support. I want to thank the survey participants who contributed to the richness of the paper. My appreciation for institution support from Texas A&M and my professional network contacts who have reached out and extended generous encouragement. In turn, I am deeply grateful to my company for championing the value to the future of the transportation industry, my dear friends for the understanding when I have disappeared for some time during this endeavor, and those who have reviewed this paper in its entirety and provided valuable feedback. To my grandmother, in loving memory. Finally, gratitude and love to my siblings, and my mother and father for their continuous encouragement and for raising me to be a woman who is empowered to press on. *Beta test group: Linda Bi, Lillian Borrone, Briana Humphrey, Licco Lee, Karen Philbrick, Jerry Premo, Karen Price, Hilary Nixon, and Sara Stickler. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... 3 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 7 I. PROPOSAL ................................................................................................................ 9 II. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 16 A. The Past & the Future of Transportation .............................................................. 16 B. The Perception of Transportation Culture ............................................................ 17 C. What is a Man's role in Winning More Women? ................................................. 18 D. Value-added with Gender Inclusivity .................................................................. 19 III. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 20 A. Recent Movements ............................................................................................... 21 B. Findings from Recent Research on Transportation Professionals........................ 21 C. Findings from Recent Research on Engineering Students ................................... 22 D. Return of Investment ............................................................................................ 22 IV. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 24 A. Research Design ................................................................................................... 24 B. Participants ........................................................................................................... 25 C. Instruments ........................................................................................................... 27 D. Procedure .............................................................................................................. 38 E. Data Analysis Plan ............................................................................................... 38 F. Risk ....................................................................................................................... 39 V. ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................. 40 A. How Close Are We to Gender Equity? ................................................................ 41 B. Barriers at the workplace ...................................................................................... 42 C. But wait, students had expectations of gender inequality? .................................. 44 D. Are we doing enough? (How Effective Are Organizations in Achieving Diversity?) .................................................................................................................... 45 E. Can we see a positive trend in gender equity? ..................................................... 46 4 F. How will an improvement of gender equity change our organization or the world in which we live? ............................................................................................... 48 VI. RETURN ON INVESTMENT ............................................................................. 53 VII. RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION ................................................. 55 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 57 APPENDIX A SURVEY FOR PROFESSIONALS ........................................................ 61 APPENDIX B WRITE-IN COMMENTS FROM THE SURVEY FOR PROFESSIONALS .......................................................................................................... 73 APPENDIX C SURVEY FOR STUDENTS ................................................................. 103 APPENDIX D WRITE-IN COMMENTS FROM THE SURVEY FOR STUDENTS . 113 APPENDIX E TERMS AND DEFINITIONS ............................................................... 118 APPENDIX F TOOLS AND RESOURCES ................................................................. 119 APPENDIX G SUGGESTED READINGS ................................................................... 120 5 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. QUESTION 1 RESPONSES BETWEEN FEMALE AND MALE PROFESSIONALS 41 Table 2. QUESTION 10 RESPONSES BETWEEN FEMALE AND MALE PROFESSIONALS. 42 Table 3. QUESTION 9 RESPONSES BETWEEN FEMALE AND MALE PROFESSIONALS. 43 Table 4. QUESTION 15 RESPONSES BETWEEN FEMALE AND MALE PROFESSIONALS. 43 Table 5. QUESTION 1 RESPONSES BETWEEN PROFESSIONALS AND STUDENTS. 44 Table 6. QUESTION 9 RESPONSES BETWEEN PROFESSIONALS AND STUDENTS. 44 Table 7. QUESTION 10 RESPONSES BETWEEN STUDENTS WITH INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE, AND WITH NO INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE. 44 Table 8. QUESTION 7A RESPONSES BETWEEN FEMALE AND MALE PROFESSIONALS. 45 Table 9. QUESTION 8 EXAMINES PROFESSIONALS WHO WANTS TO SEE MORE GENDER EQUITY PROGRAMS AND ARE WILLING TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROGRAM. 47 Table 10. QUESTION 1 RESPONSES BETWEEN PROFESSIONALS WITH MORE THAN 25 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, AND PROFESSIONALS WITH 5 YEARS OR LESS OF EXPERIENCE. 46 Table 11. QUESTION 14A RESPONSES BETWEEN PROFESSIONALS BY GENDER. 48 Table 12. QUESTION 9 RESPONSES BETWEEN FEMALE AND MALE STUDENTS. 49 Table 13. QUESTION 14A AND 16A RESPONSE BETWEEN FEMALE AND MALE PROFESSIONALS. 50 6 THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The objective of this paper provides an analysis and evaluation of the current workplace landscape on gender equity, culture and support, career advancement opportunity, perceptions on gender demographics and their relationship to company success and a more user-friendly transportation system. The main method of analysis compared responses collected from transportation professionals and university students with an interest in transportation. While the survey responses show that both professionals and students recognize that organizations would benefit from a more equitable workplace, and that my additional literature review demonstrates the positive return on investment of a more equitable workspace, the data shows women feel that gender equity has not been achieved, and that opportunities are not the same regardless of gender, while less men feel the same way. On the contrary, more male students than female students recognize that both employees and the organization would benefit from an increased percentage of women in the workplace. This study concludes that organizations in the transportation industry would benefit from the following initiatives: 1. Providing opportunities for training and/or information sessions on how to recognize gender bias and how to avoid it in the workplace. 2. Evaluating and standardizing pay. 3. Considering flexible work options. 4. Reviewing the organization’s recruiting strategies. 8 I. PROPOSAL According to a recent study, women