This primer focuses on the gendered organization of labour in the Philippine jeepney informal transport sector, particularly on the often invisible yet essential work of women in the widely perceived male-dominated sector. Public and media attention typically centers on male jeepney operators and drivers, particularly in the context of ongoing struggles against the government’s jeepney modernization program and other transport policies. However, a closer attention reveals that women are present within the jeepney sector, and they perform essential labour that are essential to its functioning.

Utilizing the women’s “triple role” concept as a lens, the primer seeks to name and bring attention to the women, particularly, the multiple, interlocking forms of labour that women undertake across three spheres: First, they contribute to productive labour within jeepney operations and, often, engage in additional income-generating activities to help stabilize the highly precarious earnings from the jeepney enterprise. Second, they perform organizing work within transport associations and the national informal transport federation PISTON, sustaining the organizing and resistance of workers in the jeepney sector. Third, they carry the primary responsibility for reproductive labour in the household, ensuring the needs and care of family members, and managing and budgeting (even stretching or augmenting) the household income.

This primer outlines the work of women in the jeepney sector but it does not claim to capture the full breadth of women’s lived experiences as they perform these different forms of labour. Rather, it seeks to provide an entry point for understanding why women’s labour is often unrecognized and undervalued, and how this invisibility reflects broader structural inequalities under capitalism-patriarchy. By naming these contributions, the primer aims to show the essential roles women play in sustaining the jeepney sector.