Women in Rail: Industry survey Introduction A true British success story, rail is proving to In context with a broader concern over be a modern and dynamic industry of which how to staff the roles required to bring these the country can be very proud. exciting developments to bear, these stark Passenger journeys have increased findings are symptomatic of a broader image two-fold over the past 18 years, employment problem for the industry. opportunity in the sector is booming - We must focus our efforts on changing currently growing at double the rate of these perceptions from the roots up: we GDP1 - and it is enjoying the largest level want to see young girls passionate about rail, of government investment since the we want to see teens leaving school inspired Victorian era. to study engineering and we want to see But it is facing a very real problem – a women thriving in their career on the railway. deficit of talent and diversity of skills – which And we want rail to be praised as an industry threatens its future growth. that is dynamic and forward looking, Over the past six months, Women in Rail supporting and fostering the career of its has been collaborating with companies workforce and, in particular, its women. across all areas of the rail industry to provide You will find in the following pages a a clearer picture of what is emerging as a snapshot of the current state of gender significant contributor to (or at the very least balance within the rail industry, a flavour agitator of) this shortage: gender imbalance. of the many reasons why the rail sector The story we have uncovered, I suspect, should pay attention to it, and a roadmap for will not be a surprise to most. Just 16.4 per change. cent of the rail industry is made up of women, It is time to unite in our approach to and an even smaller number are in senior, promote rail as a career of choice, to redress decision-making posts. For most women the gender balance and fill our ever growing and young girls, rail is unfortunately not the pipeline with the best talent. first exciting, creative and rapidly growing Taking all of this on board, now is the industry that springs to mind when choosing time to achieve our vision for a better future a career. for rail. Adeline Ginn Founder of Women in Rail 2 WOMEN IN RAIL Contents 04 WHY RAIL? 24 CLOSING REMARKS 06 STATE OF PLAY 25 WITH THANKS TO 12 REASONS FOR CHANGE 27 APPENDIX OF REFERENCES 16 THE CHALLENGES 28 CONTACTS 20 WHAT CAN BE DONE? WOMEN IN RAIL 3 Why Rail? It is clear that the rail industry needs to shi¤ its major upgrades of London Underground, gender balance. This is not just imperative to light rail schemes, provision of new trains, the future of rail, but also to the future of the as well as extensive electrification and British economy. introduction of ERTMS across the network. The railway sector plays a significant role Sourcing its talent from a wide pool of men in the state of the UK’s wealth. Oxera has and women is crucial to deliver this growth estimated the economic contribution of and, arguably, some areas of the industry are the industry: suffering from a lack of varied perspectives • The contribution of the industry and its already. supply chain, namely is the employment Following an underinvestment in research of approximately 212,000 people, and development, the UK is behind the generation of £9.3bn in GVA each its counterparts in its creation of new year, and the provision of £3.9bn of tax technologies. Between 1984 and 2013, revenue to the Exchequer. Importantly, for example, fewer than 2,000 rail patents the tax contribution almost exactly offsets attributed to the UK, while Germany has funding provided by government to the secured nearly 4,000, the USA 8,000 and industry; China nearly 18,000.6 • Up to £13bn in benefits to passengers and The world’s rail supply market is expected freight users a year; to grow by 2.7 per cent this year,7 arguably • Up to £10bn worth of additional a good news story for the UK, but as productivity in the economy which arises developing markets begin to grow at a faster through the impact of the rail industry on pace, we must ask ourselves what we can other sectors of the economy.1 do to improve the picture of Britain’s railway industry. With a total worth of £39bn, rail is key to Investing in new talent will play a crucial the economic health of the nation, especially role in changing this. It is in everybody’s if we compare it to other industries. Music for interest to engage young women, girls example generates £3.5bn 2, house building and boys alike in this dynamic and exciting makes £19.2bn3 and the alcohol industry is industry, for the benefit of UK plc. Despite worth £38bn 4. 51 per cent of the population being female, George Osborne, Chancellor of the right now across the UK just 7 per cent of Exchequer, has also recognised the important engineers are women. When we look at the role that HS2 will play in rebalancing the railway industry this drops down to just 4.4 British economy and fuelling its Northern per cent.8 powerhouse. Speaking on the plans, he said The higher we aim, the bigger the benefits that bringing the northern cities together will be: HS2, for example, will create could create a second “global city” for the more than 14,000 new jobs for workers in UK, which would not be a rival but a “brother Birmingham, with the ripple effect of 2,000 in arms” for London as they fight together to new homes to be built in the area. This is grow Britain’s share in the world economy. particularly significant as government figures HS2 alone is expected to create 25,000 show that Birmingham has one of the highest jobs during construction and 3,000 jobs unemployment rates in the UK. Rail will when in operation.5 change people’s lives.9 Even further growth is on the horizon too, We must allow the rail industry to be at the with new initiatives including the Thameslink forefront of helping to turn cities’ fortunes Programme (1 and 2), Crossrail (1 and 2), around. 4 WOMEN IN RAIL WOMEN IN RAIL 5 State of play Using self-reported data from more than NETWORK RAIL, THE When the data is broken down into 39 businesses comprising train operating OFFICE OF RAIL AND job grades, the majority (83 per cent) of companies (including their owning groups), ROAD, DEPARTMENT FOR women across the three organisations are in manufacturers, rolling stock companies, TRANSPORT junior roles, while 16 per cent hold middle- technical support companies (TESCOs), Of the total, public sector bodies such as management positions. Just 56 women (1.3 suppliers, Network Rail, the Department Network Rail, the ORR and DfT account for per cent) are in senior roles. for Transport (DfT) and the Office of Rail 31,945 staff, 4,157 (13 per cent) of which are and Road (ORR), this study provides the women. first comprehensive map of the number Network Rail, ORR, DfT of women in rail and – crucially – where they are to be found in terms of skill set, Network Rail, ORR, DfT women by grades seniority and function. This, it is hoped, will provide an actionable gender split baseline upon which companies can identify and target the key areas for change. 4000 Female 13% INDUSTRY-WIDE Our 2015 research shows that amongst a total workforce of 85,723 covered by the survey, 3000 14,024 or 16.4 per cent are female. Industry-wide gender split 2000 Male 87% Female 16% 1000 Male 27,78 8 Female 4,157 *of 31,945 total staff 0 Percentage of women overall 13.01% Junior Senior Middle- Male 84% management INDUSTRY-WIDE WITHOUT Male 71,699 NETWORK RAIL, THE ORR Female 14,024 OR DFT *of 85,723 total staff Such a stark concentration of the talent pool negatively skews the industry-wide data Percentage of women overall 16.36% considerably. For these purposes, Women in Rail has also provided a comparable figure In context with data across the UK omitting Network Rail, the ORR and the DfT. economy, where 47 per cent of the When Network Rail, DfT and ORR data is workforce are female, these results represent excluded, the overall percentage of women a dangerously low figure for rail. For now, jumps to 18 per cent. anyway. 6 WOMEN IN RAIL Industry-wide (excluding Industry-wide (excluding Network Rail, ORR, Network Rail, ORR, DfT) DfT) women by grade gender split 8000 Female 18% 6000 4000 Male 82% 2000 Male 43,729 Female 9,867 *of 53,596 total staff 0 Percentage of women overall 18.41% Director The data also looks at the number of Executive Non-manager women in terms of grades, mapping the Junior Manager Senior Manager representation of women by seniority within Mid-level Manager their companies. Just under four fi¤hs (79 per cent) are in non-managerial roles and only 0.6 per cent have progressed to director or executive level. While job availability for Industry-wide (excluding Network Rail, ORR, both sexes naturally tends to be the greatest towards the bottom of the pyramid, the lack DfT) women by role of women towards the top goes well beyond Engineering (qualified engineers acting normal attrition.