Integrating Gender-Differentiated Risks and Workload Into Sustainable Vehicle Routing: Advancing Equity and Gender Diversity in Freight Transport

This study develops a sustainable vehicle routing framework that addresses gender imbalance in freight transport, where women remain significantly underrepresented in driving roles. The framework integrates gender-differentiated parameters-physiological workload thresholds and risk indices-into routing decisions. Public health impacts are quantified using Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) to capture community health burdens. Applied to freight operations in Chonburi Province, Thailand, the model shows that integrating female drivers is feasible with no substantial increase in costs or environmental impacts. However, female participation is associated with higher total route risk, underscoring the challenges women could face in a male-dominated sector and the need for supportive infrastructure improvements to achieve both equity and safety. By integrating efficiency, health, and equity metrics, the framework enables logistics managers to evaluate workforce composition, implement risk-aware route assignment, and balance workloads while maintaining performance and improving safety, thereby providing a practical pathway to broaden female participation in logistics.