The transport industry is still struggling to get to grips with gender diversity, two reports issued on or before International Women’s Day on 8 March have shown.
Research conducted by Search Consultancy shows that 63% of managers in transport believe that the sector suffers from the problem. That puts transport in second to bottom place among the 17 industries surveyed in terms of a perceived lack of gender diversity. Only construction, on 68%, came in worse.
In addition to concerns around gender diversity, 57% of managers in the transport industry also believe that their business lacks racial diversity and 52% accept that age diversity is an issue. 57% believe that a more diverse workforce would help to resolve skills shortages in the transport sector.
On a slightly more positive note, work by the International Road Transport Union has shown that the share of female coach and bus drivers in Europe grew to 16% of the field in 2020, up from 10% in 2019. That contrasts with the number of women HGV drivers, who account for less than 2% of the overall pool.
Of all the businesses surveyed by Search, 60% said that a more diverse workforce would help to resolve the skills shortage in their industry. One in five said that it would help significantly.
