Marie Daly: Chair's Blog

Dear members

It's been a busy two weeks for Women in Rail and it has also been a busy night for the country, as Labour have taken a landslide victory into the polls this morning. So well done to Labour.   

I don't often, at my age get really annoyed when I'm listening to something. I tend to take more of a passive approach to news that one time would have had an emotional reaction. This week however, listening to Radio Four, I heard the change in the membership rules for the Garrick in London. It made me quite furious, really. Why? Because we constantly talk in our industry that things are changing (and things are changing) and we should acknowledge and celebrate that. This story made me furious however, as it is an example where society is still in a place where gender doesn't have the equity it needs, especially in an organisation that is 180 years old, with a membership made up of some of the most senior people in society. I couldn’t believe the club has only just had the foresight to acknowledge that women should be able to be members. Whilst this should be congratulated, it should be acknowledged that there is still lots for us to do to change this mindset. Women in rail will continue to use our voice to influence this change. I am hopeful with women like Angela Rayner at the leadership of our new government, that these things can be topics that are discussed and addressed to really make the systematic change that is required. 

 Judi Dench and Siân Phillips become first female members of Garrick Club | Garrick Club | The Guardian     

On that note, speaking of women in power who are really making a difference, it was great as part of my Women in Rail industry one to one meetings that I was able to catch up with Tricia Williams, the new managing director at Northern Rail. It was great to start to talk about how it's going in her new role, how we utilise the experience of somebody like Trish who has worked in different sectors to bring in that best practice into the rail industry. It was great to hear from Trish that there are things that the rail industry is doing in the EDI space that are leading the way. Thanks Trish.

I attended an event in London last week, which was truly fantastic. It was a ‘Woman in’ Dinner. So, we had Women in Media, Women in Sport, Women in Data and I could go on. The list below, shares with you each of these great organisations.  

Women in Sport

Women in Transport

British Association For Women In Policing

Women in Defence UK

Women in Film and Television UK

Women in Data®

Meat Business Women  

What was most great about it was listening to the collective voice on gender equity and intersectionality and hearing the issues are not just within our industry. How great it is that we were able to come together. Thanks to Charlie Henderson from PA Consulting for making it happen. We shared best practice and came together as a community, and it was great to share the table at the event with Sonya Byers OBE CEO from Women in Transport as one of her last events before she goes on maternity leave. Women in Rail wishes you best wishes on this stage of life’s journey.    

Our mentoring programme is a flagship event in our fleet of programmes. The midway event took place last week, thanks to Rajinder Pryor MBE ( ਰਜਿੰਦਰ ਪ੍ਰਾਇਰ ਐਮ.ਬੀ.ਈ ) for stepping in for me. I was meant to do the opening session, but unfortunately, due to the day job, that was not something that was able to happen. The event looked amazing and gave time for mentees to make sure that at this halfway point, the journey so far has delivered on what they originally intended. This event gives them the opportunity to reflect to make sure they get the most from this programme in the second half. How exciting to see the Bollywood dancers 👏👏👏👏 #movingahead #rajinder #tanya    

It’s been great to continue our partnership and collaboration with our colleagues in Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) , Apeksha Naik Co-Chair of Rail Unites for Inclusion and Odis Palmer, who continue to give me energy in their passion for pursuit of change for our industry across EDI. Our first session was working with our trade union partners to understand how we make a greater impact on what we are doing to drive gender equity for our front-line colleagues. On our second meeting, it was good to catch up with them both and Abu Siddeeq to talk about the ongoing rise in violence against Muslim women, one recent example being a women who was targeted on the rail network for wearing a head covering. Our discussion focused on how we can give practical support here in the UK by helping to stop this discriminatory behaviour taking place at all and by helping to give people the support they need to report any scenarios of this type when they occur.  

Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) and Women in Rail will be writing to industry leaders to seek support for a targeted campaign across our industry to call this out, create awareness of what is happening and to tell people that we will support them during this time.

This topic leads me on to Labour's Manifesto and the Race Equality Act and the endorsement of this from Women Rail. In 2020, a Race Equality Act was first promised as the party launched the Lawrence review where they delved deeper into the disparities the ethnic minority community faced during the Covid-19 pandemic and whether the Government policies exacerbate existing inequalities or protected the already vulnerable. Labour has promised that they will extend the Race Equality Act to those from ethnic minority backgrounds and those with disabilities who are more likely to have a combination of structural inequalities. We have had great relationships with our government partners, and we aim to continue that with the new Transport and Rail ministers that will be announced later today. 

Then last but certainly not least, there's been lots of activity happening across our regions, and we have a SWIFT event next week on Rethinking Allyship with Cordelia Osewa-Ediae FRSA, a strategic Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Consultant. This event will take place on the 11th of July, something that I am really looking forward to. More information can be found here: Rethinking Allyship - Swift (womeninrail.org) 

 So, if I don't see you over the next two weeks, I will see you at my next blog!    

Take care, Marie x     

Marie Daly @