TfL marks International Women’s Day with a range of events to encourage more women to join transport and engineering sectors

This International Women’s Day, Friday 8 March, Transport for London (TfL) is encouraging women to consider joining the transport sector and engineering roles through a number of events and activities.

While progress has been made to encourage more women into these sectors, TfL is working hard to continue making the industries more inclusive and representative, particularly in operational roles.

TfL is actively working to improve representation at all levels within its business through a range of different interventions. These include providing and promoting initiatives that encourage women to enter the transport sector, as well as addressing any barriers that prevent women from advancing to senior and higher-paying positions, particularly in operational areas.

Today, TfL is hosting the final of its schools challenge, Innovate, which has seen students design an innovation that could help TfL deliver on its vision of being a strong green heartbeat for London. The winning innovation will be announced at today’s ceremony and will include a panel discussion hosted by senior women leaders from TfL and the engineering sector to mark International Women’s Day. They will discuss their experiences of working in transport, to inspire more young people and particularly girls to consider careers in transport and engineering.

The London Transport Museum is hosting a Museum Late: Women on the Move today, which will spotlight the jobs women do to keep London moving, the journeys they have taken to get there, and will explore women’s diverse experiences of travelling and working in the capital.

TfL’s efforts to encourage more women to consider careers in transport and engineering are ongoing and throughout March, TfL’s internal Women’s Colleague Network Group is hosting several events to encourage more women to seek new opportunities in more male-dominated areas such as engineering and technology.

Last year, TfL launched the ‘Women in Bus and Coach’ initiative to help share expertise and develop solutions to ensure a career in the bus and coach industry is attractive to women of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities. Several commitments to encourage women to join transport and engineering are in progress and the network will launch six new internship places specifically for women, this summer.

TfL’s supplier skills team have also been actively working with suppliers to increase the number of women working in transportation, engineering and construction sectors. Later this year up to 20 women will be given the opportunity to experience working within these sectors through TfL’s support of a Women into Transportation and Engineering pre-employment programme (WiTnE).

TfL is also actively supporting women's progression into senior management roles by launching a new ‘Getting ready for Senior Leadership’ programme designed to help better prepare internal colleagues for a move into senior leadership.

Deputy Mayor for Transport, Seb Dance, said: “The Mayor and TfL are committed to diversifying and strengthening TfL’s workforce and are working hard to attract more women to the transport and engineering sectors.

“This year TfL is marking International Women’s Day with a number of events and activities, which we hope will encourage more women into these exciting and vital industries.”

Patricia Obinna, TfL’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion, said: “This International Women's Day, we want to show that Transport for London offers women varied and rewarding career opportunities, and we hope that our efforts to do this will help women to see that every role at TfL is open to them.”

Lina Shari who joined TfL’s WiTnE programme, says: “I hadn’t considered transport as a career option but, following the programme, I’m now have a role as a Workflow Coordinator at Kier. The fact that the programme is specifically made to benefit women, and help them with their career path was key for me. This experience opened my eyes and made me aware of what happens on London roads every day.”

Last November, TfL, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the London Transport Museum created a reimagined version of London's iconic Tube map, honouring the contributions of engineers in London, the UK and worldwide. The Engineering Icons Tube map celebrates the achievements of many female engineers and was created to help encourage more people to consider engineering as a career.

The engineering profession in the UK is experiencing a concerning skills and diversity shortfall. Research shows that almost half (47 per cent) of UK pupils aged 11-19 have not considered engineering as a potential career [1]. According to the latest available data, only 16.5 per cent of the UK engineering workforce is made up of women, and Black and minority ethnic groups represent only around 11.4 per cent [2].

Later this year, two of London's six Overground lines will be renamed to recognise the historic contribution women have made to London. The Suffragette line will celebrate how the working-class movement in the East End fought for women's rights. The line runs to Barking, home of the longest surviving Suffragette Annie Huggett, who died at 103.

The Lioness line, which runs through Wembley, will honour the historic achievements and lasting legacy created by the England women's national football team that continues to inspire the next generation of women and girls in sport.