London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is celebrating International Women’s Day 2022 by releasing research that looks at the bias experienced by women working to develop and progress their careers.
The specially-commissioned research conducted by YouGov in February 2022 reveals the true picture when it comes to the bias experienced by women in different sectors throughout their careers. Key findings include:
- A third (33%) of working women surveyed believe that gender bias exists in their workplace, with the worst industries being IT and telecoms (46%), construction (45%) and financial services (43%).
- A staggering 75% of women surveyed who have been mistaken for someone more junior at work in the past two years believe that their gender played a role in this error.
- Two out three (66%) of women surveyed who have had their skills, knowledge or expertise questioned at work in the past two years believe it is at least partly due to their gender.
- Almost half (48%) feel that, in their workplace, having children hinders progression opportunities.
- Three out of five (57%) of women who have been overlooked for promotion in the past 24 months said their gender played a role in why they were overlooked.
When it comes to women being expected to do tasks in the workplace beyond their job description, one in five of women (21% per cent) were asked or expected to do extra administrative duties (e.g., booking meeting rooms, collecting refreshments for colleagues).
The International Women’s Day global theme for 2022 is Break The Bias and looks to address imbalance for women across the world, ranging from the workplace to access to healthcare, education and social attitudes.
LNER is a leader for gender diversity in the transport industry with a 42% female workforce, compared to the industry average of 16%.
Claire Ansley, People and Customer Experience Director at LNER, said: “International Women’s Day continues to be a focal point for all our people at LNER as we take stock of how gender is perceived by colleagues and our goals in diversity for the future.
“Our research shows that women are experiencing bias at work in some sectors more than others, which is why this year we are celebrating International Women’s Day by highlighting the many ways in which women can take their careers forward in the railway sector.
“Speaking from personal experience, I’ve enjoyed 27 years of working in the rail industry, starting out by serving teas on the Pullman service between Yorkshire and London before progressing through a variety of roles in retail, station management and operational responsibilities and now to my current role as Customer Experience Director at LNER.
“It shows that the railway offers brilliant opportunities for women to develop and progress their careers, with a huge range of opportunities across roles that many people would not necessarily associate with rail. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, digital analysts, chefs and accountants – a whole host of different roles – are available in the railway and offer women the opportunity to take their career forward in ways they might never have imagined.”
Image credit: LNER
