You’re you, unique. “Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common. Celebrate it every day” (Winston Churchill). Some 14,000 transport professionals who are members of the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) will recently have received their copy of Transportation Professional – and this issue is focused on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Since this is important and because I’m on holiday, I’ve given it a cover to cover read. I wonder if you’ll do the same?

Here to whet your appetite are twelve things I highlighted going through the publication:

💙 “The first women-only bus service has been launched in Pakistan” – it aims to encourage more women into the workplace by allowing them to travel without male harassment.
💙 Invisible Women – “For me that was an eye-opening, mind-blowing book” [Yes!!]
💙 “If you have a city that isn’t accessible, then you have a significant proportion of people who cannot fully contribute to life in the city”
💙 Changing the build environment requires sensitivity to local community needs and honest engagement with the people affected – “A new highway may offer an economic boost to the local economy, but neighbouring households could be far more concerned about the increase in noise and pollution
💙 Addressing EDI is not about minimal compliance, it’s “vital to business and society”
💙 “Genuine, proactive allyship supports people in improving awareness and understanding, as well as challenging certain behaviours”
💙 “We’re starting to see wellbeing and mental health at the core of individual and review meetings with staff”
💙 An individual’s identity is created from an intersecting myriad of factors and “to truly understand someone, you must become their ally, listen to them and build a relationship”
💙 Unless we “understand the biases and limits of certain sectors of society” we can’t “lead the way for an accessible and inclusive transport infrastructure”
💙 “getting male transport professionals to understand the issue is a crucial step in moving wards gender neutrality” – the standard person in society should be neutral but it isn’t, it’s a man
💙 “when I meet a mentee who’s around 18 or 19, I say you can be the cycle breaker. You don’t need to be a copy of someone else or whatever culture imposes on you. You need to be different. You need to be you.” [Yes!!]
💙 “We have a fantastic retention rate because when people come, they enjoy working here, so it shows they are accepted for who they are and the company is accommodating differences”

It’s so easy to skim over articles like those in this issue and what we really need is much more pause for thought and reflection. Transport as a sector is not all about science, technology, engineering and maths; it’s about empathising with who people are and what they need.

Women in Transport Women in Mobility #diversityequityinclusion #equalityanddiversity #genderequality #edi #unconsciousbias