I had the privilege of attending the Women in Bus and Coach Annual Summit in the impressive offices of BT in Snow Hill, Birmingham, on 30 September — the UK Coach Operators Association (UKCOA) having recently become a corporate member. It is very clear that this is a movement that is growing with an ever-increasing number of corporate and individual members, and for good reason too.
This is an organisation that is clearly going places, promoting equality, diversity and inclusion across the sector.
It is probably one of the best summits/conferences that I can recall going to for some time. The programme itself was well thought through with a wide variety of speakers and panellists sharing challenging presentations.
There simply wasn’t time to check up on emails or other messages on your phone in case you missed something significant. And it reinforced my thinking that there is so much more to do to promote equality, diversity and inclusion within the coach industry.
The Chief Executive of DVSA, Loveday Ryder, one of the early speakers, gave us four takeaways which are worth repeating here:
- Grasp every opportunity – don’t always think of your career is being linear. Sometimes a sidestep can give you some additional important experience
- Don’t tolerate being patronised; either by someone else, or even yourself
- Keep getting better; focus on continuous improvement and a mindset of ‘how I can do it better?’
- Believe in yourself and tell your story; feel proud of what you have achieved.
And there were stories. Some could have been regarded as being amusing, if it was not in the context of a woman not being trusted, believed in or, in plain speaking, discriminated against.
For me one of the most shocking facts relayed was from Marie Daly, Chief Operating Officer at Transport for Wales and Chair of Women in Rail. She stated that many women who work in the public transport business regularly get urinary tract infections because they don’t drink enough water — to avoid needing to use the toilets at work.
The state of some toilets that I have used when visiting coach operators admittedly leaves much to be desired.
One, I remember, had absolutely no hand washing provision in the toilets, despite us being invited to eat a sandwich afterwards. No wonder women don’t want to work somewhere when the most basic of hygiene is not observed or provided for, and for those that do, they don’t want to use the facilities.
When delegates were asked what is the biggest challenge facing front line women in transport, 58% said that women often feel they have to be better than everyone else to succeed, especially if they are the only one present!
We have to do better in so many areas, especially in the coach industry. We need to change the culture, not because we have to, but because we want to. There are some good things happening, but we need to do more.
I have taken away my own personal list of ideas of what I would like to achieve in the next year within UKCOA in the context of equality, diversity and inclusion and once I have worked these up, I hope to be able to share them more widely. This is something I want UKCOA to undertake properly, and not have it be interpreted as a knee jerk reaction.
Will others jump on board and join me? Otherwise, you may get left behind!
