ABSTRACT

Bus hostesses provide passenger assistance, safety, and customer service during the journey playing a crucial role in the broader transportation industry. Pakistan’s National Transport Policy 2018 recognized women as customers and users of the transport services neglecting their role and rights as workers in the industry. Working women, especially bus hostesses, are often seen as easy targets for harassment, aggression, and extreme social behaviors, highlighting the need for improved support and policies.

This qualitative study explores the personal and professional challenges bus hostesses face, which significantly affect their well-being and job satisfaction. The study investigates social norms and perceptions around bus hostesses’ work, highlighting their challenges in a male-dominated sector. The study further explores career growth opportunities and long-term professional sustainability for bus hostesses, aiming to fill the knowledge gap about women’s job experiences in Pakistan’s transportation sector in service roles. The study explored the multiple challenges by applying the theory of emotional labor, Marxist feminism, and feminization labor theory employing semistructured interviews with the 20 bus hostesses and their supervisors in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, belonging to distant areas. Results from bus hostesses’ accounts reveal that they face significant challenges stemming from economic necessity and familial responsibilities. Many women choose this profession due to socio-economic reasons such as being the primary breadwinners, caring for parents and children, and lack of qualifications required to pursue other professional paths. Negative public/social attitudes towards bus hostesses lead to harassment, stereotyping, and emotional burnout impacting their psychological well-being, dignity, and self-respect. Lack of benefits, no work-life balance, no career progression opportunities, low pay, and poor living conditions in company hostels make this profession an unsustainable choice for them. Businesses frequently neglect their concerns and complaints in favor of passengers. Policy recommendations are for the government to implement inclusive policy reforms in bus companies to create secure, welcoming work environments for women staff, promoting gender equality, career sustainability, labor rights, and women’s empowerment in the transportation sector.