The role of women in rail, unfortunately, continues to remain very marginal, especially when it comes to more operational roles. Despite an increasing number of policies favouring gender equality, less than a quarter of the workforce in Europe is made up of women, with little progress over the past few years.
The figures come from the 2025 Women in Rail (WiR) report commissioned by the European Social Partners, CER and ETF and published by EVA. The study surveyed 29 rail companies and 21 trade unions in Europe. “There is still little movement towards a gender equality-oriented workforce structure in certain areas, particularly in the core domain of professions related to the railway sector”, the document highlighted.
Stagnating figures
Women make up around 23% of the total rail workforce in Europe, according to data from 2023. Five years earlier, it was at 21%, signalling quite minimal developments. Of course, as the report also mentioned, there are differences at the national level as well, with some countries having more women in rail than others. The most staggering numbers come from locomotive drivers, rolling stock maintenance and infrastructure maintenance.
In the first two fields women only account for less than 5% of the total workforce, while for infrastructure maintenance the percentage rises to 7%. Things are slightly better when it comes to IT and traffic management, where women make up 22% and 25% of the personnel respectively. The only somewhat balanced category is on-board personnel, the split between men and women in 60% and 40%.
Why is this?
The question of why there are much fewer women in the rail sector compared to men has been in search of an answer for quite some time. However, finding an answer cannot be an easy process. The WiR report showed that there are no significant differences between the behaviour of male and female employees, for example, when quitting their job in the sector.
One of the answers could be found in the recruiting procedures, where gender bias might cause some imbalance. “To attract women to apply for a job or a career in the railway sector, companies have to directly address them during the entire communication and recruitment process, including job descriptions”, the report stressed. For example, only 61% of the companies surveyed offer regular training for non-discriminatory interview practices.
Another issue might be flexibility. The WiR report showed that 19% of the women employed in rail are on a part-time basis, especially in Central Europe. Additionally, not all companies surveyed have a plan to reintegrate employees after maternity or paternity leave. Since women usually take this type of leave more than men, as the study claimed, this issue likely affects them the most.
Positions of power
The situation is slightly more positive when it comes to positions holding more power, such as top and middle management and company boards. Respectively, women make up 28%, 29% and 34% of the workforce in these three categories. Many of the leading rail freight companies in Europe, for instance, are headed by a woman: Sigrid Nikutta at DB Cargo, Eglė Šimė at LTG Cargo or Sabrina De Filippis at FS Logistix, to name a few.
