Abstract
The Lived Experiences of Black Women Frontline Supervisors (Deemed Essential Workers) in Transportation (Bus & Rail) During the COVID-19 Pandemic
By Tina Wimberly, EdD
Purpose. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of four Black women frontline supervisors deemed essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study highlighted the effects COVID-19 had on Black women who were mandated to report to work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methodology. This qualitative study was a phenomenological research design. This design allowed the collection of the lived experiences of Black women supervisors deemed essential workers in transportation. Based on a set criterion by the researcher, a total of four interviewees were selected to participate in the research. The data were collected, analyzed, reviewed, and stored per IRB and the University of La Verne specifications.
Findings. The COVID-19 pandemic affected Black women supervisors deemed essential workers in bus/rail transportation. The research showed how the COVID-19 pandemic affected Black women mentally, physically, in the workplace, and in their personal lives. In alignment with prior research, COVID-19 did not financially affect Black women who held a college degree or possessed some form of college. One participant possessed a bachelor’s degree, and three participants possessed some level of college. The participants in this study were also not affected financially during COVID-19 because they were able to take on extra shifts that became available because of fellow coworkers who contracted or succumbed to COVID-19. Some of the participants in this study worked 6 and 7 days a week.
Conclusions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Black women working as frontline supervisors in the field of transportation (bus/rail) deemed essential workers experienced a great deal of physical and mental pain but no financial pain. The mental and physical pain was exacerbated because the Black women were walking the road of intersectionality and the superwomen schema. The conceptual framework translated into unnecessary mental and physical pain during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recommendations. All the participants in the research were given multiple assignments in the workplace because their coworkers either contracted or succumbed to COVID-19. More research must be conducted focusing on Black woman essential workers in transportation (bus/rail), with special emphasis placed on the intersectionality theory and the superwoman schema. The research also showed organizations must develop tools for their leadership to be better prepared, to practice crisis leadership, and to address the needs of their staff and community during a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.