On 2 June the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) hosted a National Women in Transport dinner, bringing together partners of the initiative. The dinner provided a forum for women leaders working in transport to meet and support greater collaboration to combat transport worker stereotypes.
Speaker bureau members Dr Gillian Miles, Romilly Madew and Caroline Wilkie all spoke about their commitment to getting more women working in Australian transport. They spoke about the importance of cultural change to achieving this outcome, recognising the importance of the National Women in Transport initiative.
The ARA actively supports greater diversity in rail. It recognises the importance of supporting greater participation and advancement of women in rail to support the industry's long-term success. Earlier this year, they released their 2020-21 Gender Diversity Report which found that there has been a 2% rise in female participation in the rail workforce compared with 2018-19. While women now make up 24% of the rail workforce, the ARA report also found two key challenges to overcome for future growth:
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Availability of skilled or qualified female candidates for roles is limiting the number of women recruited in the rail workforce.
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Attraction of women into rail apprenticeships, rail training or the rail sector
Read the ARA’s 2020-21 Gender Diversity Report to learn more and access case studies on gender diversity in rail.
Read more about how the ARA supports gender diversity.