18.07.17
Calling all women: have your say on the barriers of the rail industry
Women have been instrumental in delivering large-scale projects in the rail industry, such as the Northern Powerhouse, and organisations like Network Rail have recently been relentlessly vocal about their commitments to diversifying the workforce.
But women are still woefully underrepresented in the sector, making up just 16% of the workforce – a figure which drops to a staggering 4% when looking at engineering roles. They also often find obstacles in their way to progressing their careers from the unconscious bias that comes from the male-dominated rail workforce.
Returning to the workplace after an extended absence for maternity (or adoption leave), for example, can be a difficult task.
But now, charities Women in Rail – which works to extend opportunities for women in the industry and have organised events such as the Big Rail Diversity Challenge – and the Railway Benefit Fund have developed a survey to discover the issues women commonly face when returning to work.
The survey focuses on areas like how well employers accommodate for women coming back into work from maternity leave, and whether the respondents’ career progression is likely to be affected by taking time off.
In getting women’s responses to these topics, the organisations hope to be able to better gauge how they can help women smoothly move back into work and how they can support them to achieve their ambitions within the industry.
“The survey is the first of its kind and is a very important initiative for the UK railway sector as it aims to help us identify what our industry can do better to support and retain you, its female talent,” a spokesperson said.
“It would be fantastic if you were able to take the time to complete it. It should not take more than 15 minutes. It is anonymous and your answers will be treated as strictly confidential.”
The survey will be open to responses until 31 July. To share your views and experiences about returning to work, you can answer the survey by clicking here.