“We know that progress is too slow. As a sector, we’re not progressing at the rate we would like to on diversity, inclusion, or gender balance.”
You’ll likely hear lots of inspirational stories about pioneering women on and around International Women’s Day – not least on Auto Futures.
However, Sonya Byers, CEO of Women in Transport, a UK-based independent professional network, thinks that simply getting more women into leadership positions will not solve all the problems facing the transportation, automotive, and mobility industries.
And, regrettably, those problems are manifold. From the impact of the pandemic on workforces, to careers advice in school, to company culture, making the world of work better for women will not be easy – but it is certainly worth it.
An Annus Horribilis
“The statistics from the World Economic Forum in its Global Gender Gap report show that it [the gap] has increased by 35 – so it is going to be 135 years before the global gender gap closes,” says Byers, speaking over a video call.
Women in Transport’s CEO Sonya Byers
“You’ll see from the PWC Women in Work Index in 2021 women have been furloughed and made redundant more than men during the pandemic.”
For every female business leader working such as GM’s Mary Barra or Peugeot’s Linda Jackson, there are many more women lower down the pecking order who haven’t enjoyed the past 12 months.
“If we look at transport specifically,” says Byers, “it didn’t stop. It’s a key worker sector but I think there has been real pressure on the frontline and the workforce, and that comes through in our research. But, in terms of the number of women working in transport, it has declined.”
A year on since Auto Futures last spoke to Byers, it seems as though gender equality within the transport industry has regressed. However, despite the challenges posed to the UK sector from the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit, she remains optimistic – something which shines through as we chat about the problems facing women.
“I do think there is a real desire and focus across the industry, as well as at a governmental and departmental level at the Department for Transport, to do something about it and redress the balance. The combined effects of Brexit and COVID have definitely delayed that action.
“But I do think that if we work together as a sector, collaboratively, and we don’t continue to work in silos – which happens a lot in transport – we can make a difference and we can increase the rate of progress.”
Breaking the Biases
However, before gender parity can be reached within the industry, it’s imperative that companies understand their own problems, with many being far from obvious – especially to a lot of men.
“There are lots of small things that organizations can do especially in transport because transport has been, traditionally, an area where there have been more men working in the sector,” says Byers.
“It’s not so much that people have deliberately tried to exclude women – they haven’t necessarily thought about how women experience the workplace and how they might need to adapt that workplace to allow more women to come into it.
“In operational roles, for example, there are issues around having the right PPE. It exists, but I still hear stories of women having to wait weeks or even months for the right size. And it seems like a small thing, but it’s something that tells you that ‘Actually, I’m not the norm here, and I don’t necessarily belong here.’
“Making sure that there are adequate facilities for women, for example, so that they don’t have to walk through several locked doors to go and wash their hands if they’re an engineer – I kid you not, these things still happen in 2022.”
Women in Transport, which boasts some 900 members (up from just 120 in 2017), acts as the Secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Women in Transport. Launched in 2016, the cross-party group of MPs and Peers provides a forum to discuss and overcome the under-representation of women in the industry. Through its research, the Group has found significant problems – perhaps unsurprisingly – in terms of industry culture.
“We found in our APPG research that, whilst women and men are both really proud to work in transport, a significant number of women – 70% – had experienced discriminatory behaviour or had discriminatory language directed at them.”
“As mentioned before… institutional sexual harassment whether it be jokes, unwanted hugs, being called love/darling still exists,” reads one quote from the report.
Another reads: “Being told that I have taken a man’s job. ‘You’re one of the boys now so it’s ok to use sexist language as it is only banter!’”
The idea of having taken a ‘man’s job’ inadvertently points to another problem facing the industry.
“You can’t be what you can’t see,” explains Byers. “We know that this bias starts very early. By five or six years old, we start to see gender roles and stereotypes being embedded into children and there’s an obligation on us, as an industry, to showcase the diversity of careers that there are in transport.”
However, as Byers makes clear, the responsibility for fixing the issue goes way beyond the industry.
“When you’re at school, you don’t know what jobs there are out there. For the most part, careers advice isn’t fantastic, but schools are already under so much pressure.”
Even in her own career, Byers almost fell into the industry.
“The careers advice I had at school was awful,” she says.
“It was literally what the teachers knew or what people around me knew. I really came into transport quite by accident and there are so many women that I talk to, and men, who have gone through that route as well and often unless you’ve had somebody in your family who’s gone into transport, it wouldn’t necessarily be a career that you think about.”
Breaking the biases held at large in society around which jobs are meant for boys and which are reserved for girls won’t happen overnight. However, despite the gloom, there are plenty of organisations actively looking to make changes.
Charting a More Inclusive Course
“A number of organisations are making a measurable positive impact through initiatives, campaigns, and networks,” says Byers.
“Hull Trains has a gender-balanced workforce and has seen significant gains across its business because of that.
“It’s led by a woman, which might make a difference,” she says, laughing, “but equally, I have seen excellent organisations such as Brighton and Hove Buses that was led by Martin Harris until he retired very recently.”
Of course, emulating the success of other businesses isn’t as simple as copying what worked for them. According to Byers, it requires a more holistic approach.
“Gathering the data and ensuring that you understand the problems is important because every organisation is different, and their challenges and the areas they need to work on will be different,” she explains.
“Benchmarking exactly where you are now and where you want to get is essential. I do think there is a place for setting targets and quotas in this situation, in order to give you a real direction of travel and focus.”
The idea of setting quantitative targets can ruffle some feathers but Byers remains unabashed in her belief that they work.
“I think that there is real value in putting financial incentives or penalties – however you want to put it – on the leadership team to make diversity and inclusion part of what they do and part of their objectives. We’ve certainly seen it with High Speed 2 that’s worked really well,” she explains.
“I worked at a company called ENGIE and we all had to have a corporate objective around diversity and inclusion, and I think that made a real difference about how people thought about it.”
While the problem cannot be fixed through top-down directives, Byers says it is important for businesses to be led by executives earnestly looking to improve conditions.
“You need to have your senior leadership really all-in and not just knowing it’s the right thing to do – which is important – but understanding why it’s important to their business.”
Reaching out from the boardroom to the shop floor, however, requires effective, not to mention delicate, communication.
“Having a really good narrative about why you’re doing what you’re doing, how you’re going to do it, and how it’s going to benefit everybody so that you can bring everybody along with you. You need everybody at every level of the organization to be brought on board and not everybody will be at the beginning – of course they won’t. So, it’s about how can you communicate that this isn’t about excluding anybody.”
“It’s not by making things better or more inclusive for women that you’re making it worse for anybody else.”
Businesses also need to be honest – something which, in many companies, might not be the default course of action.
“Transparency saying if you’ve tried something and it hasn’t gone well, why hasn’t it? Have there been lessons learnt? Listening is really important. In organizations such as TFL, they have fantastic Employee Resource Networks and staff network groups. Those lived experiences are really important.”
“There’s no silver bullet, unfortunately,” says Byers, “so it is lots of work. And it is, actually, a long-term thing, and it isn’t something as simple as we’ve got one woman on the board and it’s job done.”
Whilst International Women’s Day is, rightly, about championing the women already succeeding in the world of work, it is essential that we do not ignore the many real problems facing women in the workforce.
“If we as a sector are truly serious about the benefits of having diversity and inclusion in our businesses,” says Byers, “then we have to stop just talking about it. We have to put the resources behind it.”
Keyword: “There’s No Magic Silver Bullet” – Sonya Byers on the Issues Facing Women in Transport