East Midlands Trains celebrates International Women’s Day
- Rail operator creates video to showcase what International Women’s Day means to East Midlands Trains employees
- Campaign theme for 2019 is #BalanceforBetter
- Commitment to deliver a 20% increase in the number of women in rail by 2020
International Women’s Day, taking place today, is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. To support the campaign, East Midlands Trains has captured a range of its employees on film, sharing what this year’s International Women’s Day theme #BalanceforBetter means to them.
East Midlands Trains, part of the Stagecoach Group, is focused on achieving an improved gender balance and the rail operator has committed to increase the number of women working in rail by 20% by 2020. A particular focus is also being put on increasing the number of female applicants for apprenticeships.
East Midlands Trains has made steps towards improving the male-female ratio of its team over the years with more females joining East Midlands Trains. 38% of the leadership team are now female, which has been a significant change. Rachel Turner, Head of Fleet - Regional, recently joined East Midlands Trains and features in the video talking about her career as a female in the rail industry.
Steps have also been taken to increase the number of women in all roles across the business, with a number of initiatives aimed at increasing the diversity of the workforce. For example, East Midlands Trains has introduced anonymous candidate screening on applications as well as holding recruitment drives to encourage women to join rail as well as developing a new Diversity & Inclusion strategy, with a key focus on gender.
Kirsty Derry, HR Director for East Midlands Trains said: “Diversity, equality and inclusion are areas that we are always striving to do better at East Midlands Trains, so that our workforce becomes more balanced and representative of the communities that we serve.
“A career in the rail industry is incredibly rewarding and we want women to feel empowered to apply for roles that were previously perceived as male dominated.”
“Being part of the International Women’s Day video is a great way for us to share our thoughts about women in rail and the positive influence that gender balance brings”.
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