tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8187673276120326871.post-49182408610914037702008-06-13T13:10:00.004+01:002008-06-13T13:38:33.480+01:00<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I was invited to a lunch to celebrate the success of women in the transport and logistics industry as a guest of TfL, who have made diversity a priority in recent years.<br /><br />As someone who has been involved in the transport world for almost 20 years now, it's been great to see how the workforce is changing and to see women moving into areas such as driving and engineering where they used to be a rare exception. The awards lunch, organised by <a href="http://www.everywoman.com/">Every Woman</a>, was sponsored by Man (all irony intended), the truck and bus company. Every Woman is the UKs leading provider of training, resources and support services for women in business; they use conferences, networking, mentoring, on-line training and specific programmes to further their aim of getting more women into business at the level appropriate to their skills and ability.<br /><br />Traditionally male dominated sectors like transport are, like political parties, changing slowly. Of course, in business all the emphasis is on practical help - I've never seen anyone propose an all woman list for a highways engineer.<br /><br />For around two years now I've been supporting an organisation called the <a href="http://www.wtsinternational.org/Chapters.aspx?id=7344">Women's Transportation Seminar</a>, with a similar agenda to Every Woman, but specifically focused on transport. They value my support and input, but it is definitely a two way street - political parties have something to learn from the business sector's approach to gender balance.</span>Ros Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00423206690160296470noreply@blogger.com