Writing for the MayorWatch website, Caroline considers Transport for London's progress this year on building a diverse organisation - starting from the low point earlier this year of the Commissioner attending a male-only event from which women were barred:
It says a great deal that anyone can attend a large event for three years in a row, with literally each and every table hosting only men, and assume that it was just normal that no women were present, even without a firm exclusion policy.
These are the facts. TfL’s senior executives tend to be white and male. Of TfL’s seven chief officers, just one (Michele Dix) is female and none are from a black and minority ethnic (BAME) group. This lack of diversity is also seen on the TfL Board appointed by the Mayor, with only 4 of 17 Board members being female and none from a BAME background.
However, there is some good news. Only last week, when appearing before the London Assembly Transport Committee, Mike Brown, TfL’s new Commissioner (and successor to Sir Peter Hendy), was quite clear that changes needed to be made, both within TfL’s senior management and in TfL’s Board – although ultimately the latter is a Mayoral decision.
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Historically TfL has tended to appoint senior executives from within the transport industry, however if the industry is almost exclusively male, such a policy will just ensure all future senior executives are male as well.
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London faces many challenges over the next few years, especially as to how its transport infrastructure manages to cope with such a rapidly growing population and of course how to deal with the fallout from its treasury revenue grant coming to an end.
In meeting these huge challenges it is vital that the capital recruits from the widest pool of people and that it has senior executives and a Board that reflect and fully understand the needs of all Londoners.
While we have a long way to go, it does seem some positive changes are now on the way.