Page 5 - Women in Rail

Message from the RTAA President
In 2010, the Rail Track Association of Australia (RTAA) embarked
on a journey of discovery as we began to hear feedback from our Members that we were desperately short of resources within the industry. Common concerns were that there needed to be some way of encouraging people to rail and then retaining them. Part of this journey led to acknowledging a set of undeniable facts, including that the rail industry is dominated by men, an older generation of men.
What we ended up with is a treasure of real-
life experiences from women (and men) about working in rail. Much is positive and we have a lot to celebrate. It is often, however, not pretty and at times it is confronting. And while the data is not
an in-depth qualitative analysis of our industry, I
do believe it is representative. As we said at the beginning of the project, we wanted the good, bad and ugly, and that is what we got.
In response to this, the RTAA Strategy was developed consisting or four key strategic drivers:
Through our networks and links to other providers doing great things, the project has expanded its focus beyond gender equity and also discusses the promotion of careers in rail to people with a disability.
• PRIORITY 1: Broaden the appeal of rail to women, young people and Indigenous communities
• PRIORITY 2: Be truly national – represent our Members across Australia • PRIORITY 3: Participate in the establishment of uniform National Track
We also engaged with the Diversity & Inclusion
Council within TfNSW. They are seeking to promote the same things that the RTAA is trying to achieve and therefore a partnership approach was developed to deliver a really informative publication that our industry can use to deliver a more inclusive work place for everybody, not just women. One piece of feedback that has been consistently reinforced is that women do not want to receive positive discrimination, they want to be given an equal opportunity to compete for roles within industry. It is the leaders of our industry that can create the systems and working conditions that provide that equal opportunity – this is the crux of the challenge!
Standards
• PRIORITY 4: Promote rail infrastructure knowledge retention and sharing for the next generation.
Priority 1 has remained the key priority within the RTAA as it strives to support and promote the rail industry within Australia. In 2015 the RTAA hosted The Business Case for Women in Rail forum in Sydney, attended by around 120 people. The RTAA subsequently produced an informative publication to highlight the summary of key findings from the forum. It provided some guidance from women who worked within rail on what would attract or even retain women within the industry. This publication was very well received within the industry, and I still see copies of the publication in foyers and lunch rooms today.
We anticipate that this is the beginning of a longer and bigger journey for our industry and are proud to contribute this work to get things moving. I offer the mantle to others to continue this work and make our industry, not only more diverse, but more sustainable, productive and performance driven.
Earlier this year, the RTAA embarked on a project to gather the stories of women in rail.
These are the outcomes of diversity. We should embrace them.
Our aim was to capture the female experience and use these anecdotes to promote more diverse and inclusive workplaces. Simple, right?
On behalf of the RTAA, I thank the individuals who contributed their stories and experiences. I also acknowledge the support that Transport for NSW has provided in this joint project.
At first, not so much, and we found it difficult to get people talking. But with the creation of an online survey and some persistent communications, stories started to flow.
Eur. Ing. David Bainbridge
RTAA President 2010 to 2017
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