EESC IN A FLASH with Baiba Miltoviča
EESC TEN section president
"EESC and women in the transport sector"

Overall, in Europe, in the transport sector, only 22 per cent are women. It is a far too low number, and I think many women might be interested but we need to think about the attractiveness of the sector.

We need to think about appropriate working conditions. We need to understand that also women constitute different other groups. For example, we need to talk about disabled people. We need to talk about different needs. If we talk about multiculturalism, if we talk about different communities. We need to think also about social security. We need to think also about additional training. We know that the sector is developing in terms of digitalisation. So training is important.

What is the European Women in Rail Award?
Women in Rail is an award, an initiative, that came from the European Economic and Social Committee from 2017, and this is the first year we are taking this initiative, this awards ceremony, on women in rail. And we really hope to have this as a regular event to disseminate good practices and try to attract younger people to the sector, but especially women, girls.

What good practices emerged?
One of the good practices came from the French national railway company, and they were working for the past 30 years to commit on inclusion, diversity. They have even a specific division working with these questions. We managed also to receive applications from smaller players like Catalonian railways or some more regional railway networks. They are interested to participate, and they are encouraged to share their practices.