Article by Beverley Rust, Chair of TfL’s Women’s Colleague Network Group
We have, without question, made progress.
There are more conversations about gender equality in transport than there were even a few years ago. There is more visibility, more intent and more collective energy behind the idea that our industry should better reflect the people it serves. That matters, and it should not be underestimated.
And yet, when you pause and look more closely, something feels unsettled. Progress is not as consistent as we might hope. In some areas, it has slowed; in others, it has quietly slipped backwards. Recent sector insights suggest that improvements in areas such as pay equity and progression have not only stalled but, in some cases, regressed.
That prompts a question that is perhaps more uncomfortable than it first appears. Not simply why progress is stalling, but who that progress is actually reaching.
Because when we talk about women in transport, we often do so as though women are a single, uniform group. It is an understandable shorthand, but it is also an incomplete one.
We are working in a moment shaped by forces that extend well beyond our sector. Geo-political instability, the accelerating pressures of climate change and in some parts of the world a gradual erosion of hard won freedoms are all reshaping how people live, work, and move. These are not distant dynamics; they influence who feels safe, who has access to opportunity and whose voices are heard. In times like these, progress on inclusion does not move forward on goodwill alone. It needs to be sustained with intention.
Within that context, the limits of a single narrative about “women” become more apparent. Experience is not defined by gender alone. At TfL, the presence of six colleague network groups - Women, RACE, OUTbound, Disability, Faith, and Parents, Carers & Guardians, reflects the breadth of perspectives that exist within any one organisation. Each network represents a distinct set of lived experiences, but the deeper insight lies in how those experiences intersect.
No one arrives at work defined by one characteristic. A woman may also come from an ethnically diverse background, with experiences shaped by race and culture, may be navigating a disability, may have caring responsibilities that shape her working patterns, or may bring a faith perspective that influences how she experiences public space. Often, these factors sit not in isolation but in combination. It is within these intersections that complexity resides, and where inequality is often most keenly felt.
When we do not fully engage with that complexity, our responses, however well intentioned, can fall short. Initiatives designed to support women may assume a shared starting point that does not exist in practice. Policies such as flexible working can be transformative in some contexts yet remain out of reach in others, particularly in operational roles. Approaches to safety may not fully reflect how different groups experience risk. None of this points to a lack of commitment; rather, it highlights the limits of designing through a single lens.
Over time, that can create a particular kind of illusion. From a distance, it can appear that we are moving forward, because activity is visible and progress is evident for some. But beneath that, there may be groups for whom little has changed, or for whom barriers have simply shifted form.
This is where progress can begin to stall. Not because the ambition is misplaced, but because it is too narrowly framed. When we rely on headline measures, we risk overlooking the detail that tells a more complex story. When the same perspectives shape conversations, even with the best of intentions, the range of solutions can become constrained. And when inclusion is treated as a set of parallel efforts rather than an interconnected whole, its impact becomes fragmented.
There is, however, a different way of thinking about this, and it sits in the connections between the very structures we have already created. Colleague networks are often seen as spaces of support and advocacy, which they undoubtedly are. But they also hold something else of equal importance: insight. Not only within each network, but across them.
When those insights are brought together, they begin to reveal patterns that would otherwise remain unseen. They can challenge assumptions about how careers develop, how services are experienced, and how policies operate in practice. They can help us understand not only where barriers exist, but why they persist.
And within that, there is also a quiet but important role for allyship. Progress at the intersections does not happen solely through the efforts of those who experience the barriers directly. It also depends on others being willing to listen, to step outside their own frame of reference and to use their influence thoughtfully. Not as a headline act, but as a consistent, often understated, part of how change is made.
Perhaps what this points towards is not the need for more initiatives, but for a shift in how we approach the ones we already have. It calls for a deeper curiosity about who is, and is not, benefiting from progress. It asks us to look beyond aggregate figures and to engage more honestly with the detail beneath them. It invites stronger connections between insight and decision making, so that what we learn translates into how we lead, design and act.
This is not the easier path. It is slower, and at times more complex. But it is also more aligned with the reality of the world we are operating in.
So the question we might ask ourselves is not simply how we are progressing on gender equality. It is whether that progress reflects the full diversity of experiences that exist within our organisations and across the communities we serve.
Because progress that reaches only some will always be limited, and ultimately fragile. It may move forward for a time, but it will struggle to hold under pressure.
Progress that is shared more widely, that recognises complexity rather than simplifying it, is harder to achieve. But it is also more resilient. In a world where external forces are increasingly unpredictable, that resilience matters.
And perhaps that is where the focus now needs to sit. Not only on how far we have come, but on who we are travelling with, whose experiences continue to shape the journey, and who may still be standing at the edges, waiting to be seen.
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