This GSR Explained is supported through the NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA) Phase 2, funded through the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Government of Germany. More information about the NDC-TIA is available here.

13.3%

That is the share of Asia’s transport and storage workforce that are women, the second lowest of any region, after Africa. At the same time, the sector cannot find enough workers: a global shortage of drivers could leave 3.6 million positions unfilled. A sector running short of workers is still leaving most women out.

This matters significantly for Asia which carries more than half of the world’s freight, and its freight systems are currently being rebuilt for a low-carbon future. The region already hosts 85% of the world’s battery electric road vehicles, yet less than 1% of its trucks are electric. The fleets, depots and jobs of the next decade of freight are being designed now. Whether women are part of that workforce will be decided in the same window.

As the freight sector grows, decarbonises and runs short of workers, that imbalance stops being only a question of fairness. It becomes a question of whether the sector can deliver at all. The Transport, Climate and Sustainability Global Status Report – 4th Edition (GSR4) shows why this number matters, what is holding women back, and where the opportunities for course correction lie.

Global freight transport and logistics: growing opportunities and environmental impact

Freight transport and logistics are the backbone of global trade and economic integration. In 2023, freight transport accounted for an estimated 5-7% of global employment, while the wider logistics sector (covering transport, warehousing, administration, and information and communications technology management) accounted for up to 10%. 

GSR4 Chapter 4.1 Freight Transport and Logistics highlights that global freight activity grew an estimated 8% between 2020 and 2025 to surpass 171 trillion tonne-kilometres, and the demand is still growing. GSR4 Spotlight on Gender-Responsive Approaches in Freight Transport in Asia points out that the demand for freight transport in Asia is projected to triple between 2020 and 2050.

Globally, freight transport was responsible for 43% of the CO2 emissions from transport (including international aviation and shipping) in 2023.  Road freight, where worker shortages are most acute and women are least represented, was responsible for 70% of freight transport-related CO2 emissions in 2023.

A major employer that is leaving almost half of the population behind

While the freight sector is an important employer, it fails to adequately engage women in the workforce. According to GSR4 Chapter 4.1 Freight Transport and Logistics, women have been greatly under-represented in the global transport workforce, accounting for only 15.6% of workers in the sector, and 23% in senior leadership roles, as of 2023. Although greater female participation and leadership have been linked to improved economic and environmental performance, progress is still constrained. Specifically in Asia, GSR4 Spotlight on Gender-Responsive Approaches in Freight Transport in Asia shows that the share of women employed in Asia’s transport and storage industries was 13.3% in 2023, well below the already low levels in North America (28.1%) and Europe (24.9%), and the second lowest share after Africa (6.5%).

The employment situation is even more severe in the freight sector. GSR4 Spotlight on Gender-Responsive Approaches in Freight Transport in Asia references research by the International Transport Workers’ Federation which found that 6 of the top 10 jobs traditionally seen as “men’s jobs” in transport were related to freight transport. The IMO-WISTA Women in Maritime Survey 2024 highlighted the ongoing gender disparity in the maritime sector: women accounted for only 19% of the total maritime workforce and only 1% of total seafarers. 

This is connected to the wider systems issue of inequities in the transport sector. Transport systems have been planned and designed without considering the diverse needs and experiences of women. As a fact, Asian women across all sectors work the longest hours among world regions: 7.7 hours a day, but only 3.3 hours are paid and the rest is unpaid care work, implying that rigid shifts and long trips would weigh especially heavily on women in the region.

Enormous shortages of workers, yet the jobs are not built for women.

In contrast to the under representation of women in the freight transport and logistics sector, the freight transport sector faces enormous shortages of workers. GSR4 Chapter 4.1 Freight Transport and Logistics shows that road freight faces acute shortages of workers. A global shortage of drivers could leave 3.6 million positions unfilled, and the gap is expected to widen as the industry struggles to recruit younger drivers. Yet, women face persistent workforce challenges in the sector: 

• work-family conflict due to rigid work schedules, long hours, long business trips, coupled with absence of family-friendly policies such as childcare support, flexible leave and adaptable shifts;
• social and cultural barriers including perceived limitations in physical ability to handle goods or operate large commercial vehicles;
• personal safety and security risks including inadequate lighting and resting spaces, unsafe parking facilities and the male-dominated culture of the industry; 
• job loss or insecurity due to emerging technologies for autonomous and digital logistics, with limited consideration of the gendered impacts; and
• mismatches in skill requirements.

These workplace challenges are part of a broader ecosystem of systemic barriers that exclude women from transport careers at every level, beginning with low enrolment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields and limited participation in technical and vocational training, which reduces the number of qualified women entering the sector.

What comes next: making the transition work for women

GSR4 Spotlight on Gender-Responsive Approaches in Freight Transport in Asia shares that several regional and national frameworks in Asia seek to address the gender gap in employment in the freight transport sector. Without national gender frameworks that reach into freight policy, budgets and training systems, efforts stay piecemeal, dependent on individual employers or projects rather than built into how the sector is planned and funded.

Key opportunities for course correction: The UN Decade of Sustainable Transport (2026-2035)and phase two of the NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA) (2026-2028). 

• Globally, the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport (2026-2035) is an unprecedented opportunity to move towards more inclusive transport systems. 

• In China, India and Viet Nam, the second phase of the NDC-TIA, aims to support gender-responsive sustainable freight and logistics, through increasing capacity on freight transport electrification and developing an action plan for women’s participation and gender equality in the logistics industry. 

Asia is already the global leader in vehicle electrification, home to 85% of the world’s battery electric road vehicles in 2024. According to the GSR4 Asia Regional Overview, only 0.8% of trucks and 2.2% of vans were electric in 2024 in Asia-Pacific. New vehicles, new infrastructure and new jobs are being designed right now. They can be designed for women from the start. 

The evidence from the region shows that entry barriers for women into the sector can be lowered. In India, women delivery workers using electric two- and three-wheelers were more likely to stay in their jobs when they had safe, good-quality charging infrastructure, with short waits, shade and waiting areas. In China, logistics companies have attracted and retained women through educational assistance, targeted recruitment and work-life balance programmes. Networks such as Women on the Move – Transforming Transport in Asia, which runs a mentorship programme for women in the sector, can help women not only enter the industry but stay in it.

Bringing women into the freight transport workforce  is one of the most direct ways to fill the workers’ gap.

The following mechanisms can support this:

• Design for everyone: Apply universal design principles to freight vehicles and infrastructure, while improving the safety and accessibility of public spaces and facilities which shape women’s experiences as truck drivers, delivery workers, or in container freight stations and depots.
• Make freight policy gender-responsive: Implement and enforce gender-responsive freight approaches such as strict policies against workplace sexual harassment and violence, and subsidised or employer-sponsored childcare that is affordable and good quality. The 2024 UNESCAP handbook on promoting a socially inclusive freight transport sector sets out three fundamentals: 1) proactive strategies and policies to widen women’s role in the sector; 2) academia and private sector involvement to equip women with the necessary knowledge and skills; and 3) hybrid occupational models to motivate women’s participation. More broadly, this means embedding gender equity in electric mobility planning, financing mechanisms that address women’s limited access to credit, and targeted training for the new jobs the transition creates.
• Learn from what is already working. Countries in the NDC-TIA offer examples:

• • • In China, logistics companies have created attractive workplaces for women, with real prospects for career progression, through educational assistance, targeted recruitment and programmes on work–life balance.
    • India has the highest share of women pilots in the world, attributed to flexible contracts, maternity leave and childcare provision. 
    • In Viet Nam, legal reforms including the 2015 amendments to the State Budget Law made gender-responsive budgeting a cross-cutting principle in public spending.

In conclusion, 13.3% is not a fixed number. Asia is building the largest freight system in the world, and it is running short of the people to run it. The UN Decade of Sustainable Transport and the NDC-TIA are key streams to commit to a freight transition that brings women in and keeps them there. The vehicles, depots and jobs of the future are being designed now and if they are designed with women from the start, the end of the UN Decade can report a higher proportion of women and less worker shortages.