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Let's encourage women into the industry
Page 28
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DESPITE WHAT MANY drivers may believe, there's a good case to be made for targeted training to help get women into the road transport industry.
Making businesses more representative of the overall population's gender balance nearly always requires an initial catalyst to lick-start' the process.
The crucial goal is to attain a critical mass— ie, get enough females for them to become comfortable in the workplace and form informal support networks.
Although there aren't yet many black drivers in the business, those who are tend to be concentrated in major urban areas where they're more likely to meet others and less likely to suffer overt discrimination.
The 'taxpayer's money' argument is a red herring.This government has wasted enough on the Iraq war, PFI projects and management consultants; it can spare a few quid to help manual workers. Even in these more enlightened times, women shoulder most of the care for kids and the elderly.
Ultimately what helps women improves life for blokes as well.
Dave Young by e-mail