Am I getting annoying?

Lately, I feel like I’ve gotten a bit annoying...

I accept that some people, (definitely my sister, and probably some of my colleagues) will read that first line, say "ah finally, she's admitted it" and move on to something else. I am however, talking about my being a nuisance on a specific topic: namely - women in rail, or the pervading lack thereof...

So if you're still here, please let me explain.

For those of you that know me, I hope you know how passionate I am about equality and diversity. About "Loving Variety".?

Loving Variety is a term coined by the visionaries that are Kathryn and Frances Nichols of the Nichols Group and one that really resonates with me. I know they won’t mind me borrowing it...

To me, the term Loving Variety is in itself, ground-breaking, not least because of its stark contrast to the usual words and phrases associated with equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), especially in industries like rail.

It asks so much more of us.?

It doesn’t want you to just?acknowledge?that variety is important and write a clever strategy, or add EDI to the agenda in a Board meeting.

It asks you to?love?variety.?

And Kathryn and Frances are right (they usually are). Truly ‘getting it’ when it comes to equality, diversity and inclusion transcends?thinking, and becomes?feeling.

I love variety, in all its forms, and I go on about it all the time. I'm always brimming with ideas and actions to try to drive meaningful change within my sphere of influence. So much so, that I think I make people feel like this a lot of the time:

I think, feel, talk about and do as many things as I can to help drive the change I am desperate to see in our industry. That's not to say that I don't have bias - of course I do. We all do, and to pretend otherwise would be to lessen our ability to evolve our own thinking and really make an impact.

I'm also not trying to say that I think I get it right all the time, or that I do it all by myself - I definitely don't. But I try, I experiment and I challenge myself and others to think and approach things differently, even if just to see if it brings us different results.

But this week, I had a bit of a crisis moment.

I started to feel like I was getting a bit annoying, going on about it a bit too much, pushing things a bit too far.

Self-doubt crept in and I started to wonder whether my ideas, passion and enthusiasm would start to 'turn people off' rather than catalyse, inspire or recruit them to the cause.

And honestly, I thought about 'giving it a rest' for a little while.

As this internal argument was playing out in my mind, I reminded myself of a conversation I had last year with my friend and former colleague, Bern Fanning. Bern had reached that moment where he felt like he had become that annoying person "that just goes on about EDI all the time", and I remember the two of us putting the world to rights, talking about how important it is to be that person, even if it's an uncomfortable place to be.

I didn't realise at the time, but I hadn't yet gotten to the stage of the journey that Bern had reached. But I have now.

And so, after a lot of naysaying, doubting and a bit of a crisis talk (all with myself), I have decided that annoying is exactly what I need to be. And if anything...

I probably need to aspire to full on pain in the arse.

I encourage you to do the same.?

We all have a long journey ahead when it comes to gender diversity in rail, because however much we think we might 'get it', we are still a way off 50:50.

In the UK, "women?make up?16% of the?rail?industry and?female?engineers in the sector make up just 4.4%". Furthermore, there is a median pay gap of 19.2% and an imbalance in the types of roles men and women apply for and successfully attain.

In Australia and New Zealand, things are admittedly looking slightly better, with women making up 27% of the rail workforce, but only 22% holding management roles.

Women remain dramatically underrepresented in rail (and in many other industries) across the world, especially in senior leadership positions, and the COVID-19 pandemic certainly hasn't helped.

According to studies carried out around the world by companies like Deloitte, McKinsey and the Grattan Institute, though some positive change has been created by COVID-19, such as the normalisation of flexible working, all-in-all in terms of gender equality, the pandemic has widened the gap.

In 2020, as 114 million jobs were lost across the globe, employment losses?for women were at 5%, compared with 3.9% for men. And studies have found that during the crisis women assumed additional responsibilities, such as taking?on more household, childcare, and other caring duties— while?continuing to work.

While all women have been impacted, three major groups have experienced some of the largest challenges: working mothers, women in senior management positions, and Black women (McKinsey, 2021).?

This means we need to do even more.

So here are some of the things I do:

• I analyse job descriptions by how they make me feel as well as what they make me think, and I amend them with an eye on gender-coding theory. Google it - it makes a lot of sense.
• I think outside the norm in terms of what I need for my team, flexing and adapting my strategy and organisation structure to make space for the awesome people that come my way.
• I work hand-in-hand with our talent and people teams to make sure we are challenging our biases and removing as many barriers to entry as possible to the roles we advertise, and how we advertise them. For example - do they really need to be an engineer???Or do they have to have worked in rail before? Do they have to have had that many years experience?
• I work harder to pull aside the curtain for candidates - I create information that lets them know how the job description translates into real life, and what the team they'll be joining is like.?
• I challenge the accepted norms, whether that be KPIs, policies, initiatives or long-standing ‘this is the way we do things around here’ moments.
• I use surveys, set up networks and hold focus groups to seek real, hard-hitting data, opinions and evidence and with the help of awesome people like Sarah Thurstan, I find the courage to stand up and shout about it.?
• I work with smart people who help me understand what the market is telling us about pay, expectations and skills and adapt my requirements and plans accordingly.?
• And most importantly, I offer jobs to amazing women.

Basically, what I’m saying is that I am an absolute pain in the arse when it comes to women in rail.

And I am building up a crew of fellow nuisances here in Melbourne. Who wants to join us?

Incremental change is amazing, but momentum drives revolution.?

So here is my pledge:

I will do everything I can to create opportunities you want to reach for, and you can count on me and Metro Trains Melbourne to do everything possible to make it a place you want to stay and grow. I am aiming for 50:50 in my team, and that means I am on the lookout for brilliant women.

So all that remains to be said for now, is look out for jobs.?

Your move.?