The 2 percent challenge: ‘Is driving really about gender?’

Yoon Soo-jung, who has been working as a city bus driver for two years and seven months, poses in front of the Gonghang Bus depot in Gaehwa-dong, Seoul, on October 14. / Courtesy of Seoul Bus Transport Business Association

If you ride a bus around Gaehwa-dong in Seoul’s Gangseo-gu, you might meet a young woman behind the wheel. She is Yoon Soo-jung, 33, now in her third year as a city bus driver.

Yoon works for Gonghang Bus, a Seoul-based bus operator. Among all Seoul city bus drivers in their 20s and 30s, only 10 are women.

Driving a bus was not her first career choice. After graduating from college, Yoon spent four years working an office job, but it did not suit her. Influenced by her parents, she decided to switch gears, literally, and pursue a career in bus driving.

Her father has been a city bus driver for more than 30 years, and her mother has also been driving city buses for over a decade. Yoon built up experience by driving a village bus for two years before joining Gonghang Bus in March this year.

“I became interested after watching my parents at work,” Yoon said during an interview on October 14. “I chose this job because I felt it would fit me well. It’s a role where you just have to faithfully do what you’re assigned to do.”

As of July, there were only 369 female bus drivers working for Seoul’s city bus system, just 2 percent of the total workforce. Only ten, including Yoon, are women in their 20s or 30s.

“I don’t find this job particularly difficult just because I’m a woman,” she said. “If you focus on driving and doing your job well, there’s no need to draw a line between men and women. Some people ask if I ever feel disrespected for being female, but I’ve never experienced that.”

The job does come with challenges, such as shift work. Still, Yoon says she is satisfied. “The pay is relatively high compared with people my age, and the job offers stability and a guaranteed retirement age. That makes it worthwhile.”

※This article was translated by an AI tool and edited by a professional translator.