Women Drivers’ Working Time in France and Portugal

Research on work psychology and ergonomics of the activity hereby presented compare the signs of a transformation of the work organization in public road transport professions. In a first study (conducted in France), the arrival of women to a profession originally performed by men has indirectly led to a different representation of time, between the professional and domestic live. On the other hand, a Portuguese study suggests that this fact may be parallel to a rather negative destabilization of the management of human labor. As far as working time is concerned, women seek, in a more obvious way, an adaptation of work to the activities of their “private” lives. The answer to their request is never direct; it exists occasionally. But its “cost” in terms of health and / or career is often obvious.