Westminster Advisers was delighted to partner with Women in Rail this week for a breakfast event looking at the gender imbalance in the transport industry, and what can or should be being done by both businesses and policymakers to make transport a more appealing and welcoming sector able to attract and retain women.
We were very pleased to be able to welcome Baroness Susan Kramer to give the keynote speech to guests, who covered a range of areas in the transport space including rail, aviation, taxi services, infrastructure, ROSCOs, consumer groups and industry bodies.
Opening the panel session, Adeline Ginn, founder of Women in Rail and General Counsel at Angel Trains, highlighted the ongoing imbalances in the rail sector and outlined some of the challenges that need to be faced if there’s to be a greater level of equality in a sector whose workforce still only 17.8% female (often in jobs far removed from central decision making). She noted that with billions of pounds being invested in rail, the sector needs to work to increase diversity and in doing so make the best use of all the skills and talents available across the breadth of the workforce, rather than focusing on the skills and opinions of a small, homogenous group of (usually) white, middle aged men with similar backgrounds and experiences.
Women in Rail works to support and help retain women currently in the industry and to develop initiatives to attract more women into the sector, including events and workshops which members of the Women in Rail group have identified as having prevented them from furthering their career or remaining in the sector such as lack of self-confidence, poor networking skills, and lack of flexible working. Women in Rail has also started a mentoring programme which partners women and young graduates to have access to a senior professional in the industry from whom to seek support and guidance. Having identified a lack of understanding at a younger age as being one of the key reasons why women and girls do not consider a career in rail, Women in Rail have partnered with like-minded organisations such as NSARE and Young Rail Professionals to visit schools, colleges and universities to spread awareness of the range of career opportunities that are available in the sector and to enthuse and encourage the younger generation to opt for a career in rail.
Lizzie Wills from Westminster Advisers set out how this gender imbalance in the transport sector is similarly true in politics, both formally elected roles and public affairs and associated professions, where there remains a lack of female role models at the highest levels. British women are currently so underrepresented in politics that the country has fallen to 65th in the global league table of female representation. She noted that 80 per cent of both houses of parliament are made up of men, with the potential for the number of women in parliament to fall even further at the next election as a number of women – many who have been in parliament for only a single term – decide that they would prefer to be doing something else entirely. She noted that this underrepresentation speaks to a wider trend – the World Economic Forum report at the end of October shows that the UK has fallen out of the top 20 most gender-equal countries in the world for the first time, after average wages for women in the workplace fell by £2,700 in a year. Nicaragua, Bulgaria and Burundi are higher on the list of countries where women and men have the most equitable life chances in education, work and healthcare than we do. Lizzie noted that this is a worrying trend that will need to be reversed if the good work being done to recruit and retain women across all sector is to be maintained.
Speaking to guests, Transport Minister Susan Kramer spoke about the important role being played by groups like Women in Rail in attracting women to the industry, including encouraging women to pursue subjects like mechanical engineering and design at university. The Minister referenced the recent World War One centenary commemorations, and paid tribute to the 20,000 railway workers across Britain that lost their lives during the conflict undertaking vital war work. She also spoke of how World War One was the ‘Railway War’ – taking servicemen to and from the front line in Belgium and France, distributing medical supplies and food, carrying the wounded to receive treatment, rapidly mobilising troops and keeping the economy going. We should not forget, she said, that many of the people responsible for Britain’s rail services between 1914 and 1918 were women, who not only made a vital contribution to the war effort but also sowed the seeds of social change that would impact upon the role of women in society in the following years.
However, she noted that the progress has been slow – just 4 per cent of train drivers and 4 per cent of railway engineers are women. Women still too often face issues of unequal pay, fewer opportunities for promotion and discrimination issues like maternity leave and childcare. And yet companies with a greater proportion of women on their boards consistently generate better returns than those that don’t.
The Minister outlined the exciting opportunities that those choosing a career in transport can become involved with – HS2, Crossrail, Thameslink and renewing intercity train fleets. Rail is a vast industry, the Minister noted, and there are many fantastic, diverse and well paid jobs on offer. It’s not because of political correctness, she argues, but about economic realities. The UK needs to maximise the contribution that women can make, helping push Britain ahead on the global economic race and making the UK more competitive. It’s about removing the barriers women face in achieving their goals, ensuring women are supported to advance at all levels of their career and making sure that women are encouraged and supported to achieve their ambitions in an industry where being a bus driver, pilot, engineer or construction worker isn’t the privilege of a male world.