Survey: Sexism In The Transport Industry

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RMT is asking women members to take part in a survey to explore the extent to which sexism exists in the transport industry. We are all in favour of equality and would frown on anyone who thought it acceptable to make jokes about a workmate because they were black or had a disability.

So why is it acceptable in some workplaces to make sexist comments? “What are you doing in work on a Sunday when you should be at home cooking the dinner?” “Women are not suited to driving trains as they have periods and give birth.” Or what about being asked to clean something up simply because that’s what women are expected to do? These are but a few of the comments spoken of by delegates at this year’s RMT women’s conference.

Sadly, sexism, or more correctly sex discrimination, is commonplace in some workplaces. For some reason and despite sex discrimination legislation having been in place for the past 40 years or so, there is still a culture which outdated gender norms and stereotypes around men and women’s value in the workplace and wider society exists.

This can lead to men’s work often being given a higher value both economically and socially, than that of women. This has real consequences, not least in the pay gap between men and women which for full-time employees was 15.5 per cent in 2010. The gender pay gap at retirement is even more shocking, with men expecting to retire on average incomes of £19,400 a year, while women on average can anticipate incomes of £12,900. That is a gap of £6,500 or 50 per cent.

In industries that have traditionally been male dominated, such as transport, women still often find it difficult to be accepted. Sexism is not just about unwanted comments but also about exclusion. One woman found that when she tried to enter into the mess room conversation with her male colleagues about football, her views where ignored. As a regular attender at football matches since childhood, she rightly believed her comments where just as informed and valid as her male colleagues, but she was frozen out of conversations.

We want to know if our women members have to put up with outdated sexist attitudes in their workplaces and that is why all women members are invited to take five minutes to complete this survey. It is important that as many women as possible do so.

The results of the survey will obviously identify the extent of sexism in your workplaces. This is only the first step in the process of trying to consign sexism to the history books. RMT plans to initiate a campaign against sexism based on the findings of the survey. Throughout this process we want women themselves to play a central role.

It is intended that workshops be set up, initially via the women’s advisory committee and then extended to our regions and women’s stewards. Education is key in fighting any form of discrimination and that is why it is the intention to incorporate sexism awareness in RMT representatives training courses. The union needs to ensure that RMT representatives in the workplace are able to both represent women adversely affected by sexism and effectively challenge it before it becomes a problem.

Sexism In The Transport Industry Survey