UIC participated in the conference on “How to attract women to the transport sector” which was held in Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday 27 November 2018.

With only 22% of women, the transport sector is not gender balanced. The objective of the Women in Transport - EU Platform for Change (hereafter the Platform), launched on 27 November 2018, is to strengthen women’s employment and equal opportunities for women and men in the transport sector thanks to the actions brought about by the Platform members. It will also serve as a forum to discuss and exchange good practice.

The conference, which brought together representatives from companies and employer organisations, transport workers and worker organisations, researchers and academics, public authorities and non-governmental organisations, was a dynamic and interactive day.

The morning’s discussions focused on work-life balance and possible economically-viable solutions to improve transport workers’ choice of shifts, while the afternoon’s discussions aimed at gathering positive insights on the attractions of the transport sector for women, to be used to fight negative stereotypes.

The outcome of two studies were discussed. The first one, “Making the EU transport attractive to future generations” can already be consulted online: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/social/studies/social_en

Based on case studies, the second one looks at measures that companies can put in place to increase their gender balance.

Commissioner Violeta Bulc was present in the afternoon for an exchange of views with the audience. She is a strong believer that the future of transport depends heavily on how we will address the above challenges and said “There is a chance that by 2030 we will be close to 40% of women in transport (today we are 22%)…but we have to act...”

Gender balance and opportunities are underpinning aspects of the UIC TALENT project, whose overall purpose is to enhance the attractiveness and retainment of talents in the railway sector. Improving diversity is not only a necessity for companies to be successful, but more than that diversity has also proven to be a “positive business case”. It helps companies access a new labour pool and enhances a company’s reputation and image. For many companies, interactions between diverse employees also spark creativity and improve innovation efforts.

Visit the webpage:
https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/social/women-transport-eu-platform-change_en for more information about the Platform, as well as good practice.