The recruitment of more female train drivers by Transport for Wales (TfW) has helped to reduce the company’s gender pay gap.

During 2022/23, the company took on another 22 female train drivers, which has helped to reduce the median gender pay gaps by 1.2 percentage points to 16.2% for TfW Rail and by 18.7 percentage points to 14.1% for the overall TfW Group.

With recruitment being key to reducing the gender pay gap, more women have been recruited into higher-salaried roles, which has the effect of equalising the proportion of colleagues at all salary levels.

Twelve months ago, Transport for Wales employed 76 female drivers, which made up 9.3% of the total number of drivers, an increase of 22 or 7.4% since April 2022. In addition, 42.9% of Transport for Wales’ new apprentices were women, up from 14.3% the year before.

Transport for Wales intends to continue improving its culture and opportunities for women, with some of its planned initiatives including:

• Publishing key performance indicators that show the company’s success in recruiting women.
• Providing more opportunities for women, such as seconding them to roles with the Welsh Government, Network Rail, and other train operating companies.
• Improving the company’s engagement with the communities it serves so that it can understand how barriers to employment can be reduced, and to maintain the employment of women from under-represented backgrounds.

The complete Transport for Wales Gender Pay Gap report can be found by clicking here.

Elsewhere in the rail industry an initiative called ‘Never Mind The Gap’ is helping to reduce the pay gap providing work experience and showcasing opportunities for women in the industry, and Network Rail was among The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality for the third year running 

I am delighted to report that our gender pay gaps have narrowed once again.

Women are now better represented in higher-paid positions and both organisations have increased the proportion of women working for them.

There is now greater representation of women among senior leaders and train drivers and we’ve seen an increase in women gaining promotion at TfW Rail.

This change has been hard won. We’ve made progress by investing in the leadership training of women at TfW. We’re working with trade unions to ensure that more women become train drivers and engineers. We’re focused on improving women’s well-being through menopause workshops and better supporting carers and we’re building wider networks across the industry through initiatives such as Women in Transport.

Becoming one TfW is an opportunity to improve gender equality still further and new operating model allows us to work even closer and smarter than before. Reducing the gender pay gap is a key part of becoming truly one.

Marie Daly, Chief Customer and Culture Officer at Transport for Wales