SNCF is fully committed to its gender equality at the workplace policy. Yet in a business where technical jobs play an outsized role, increasing female representation remains a challenge.

We want to increase female representation in all positions, particularly related to railway production. We’re adamant about enforcing equity rules when it comes to career advancement, which means tackling topics like parenting and work-life balance.

Those issues were at the heart of the 4th framework agreement signed with employee unions on “Promoting equal treatment of men and women and representation in the workplace”.

Each year, we organize activities nationwide that include discussions of workplace equality to raise awareness and highlight progress. Throughout France, our teams hold roundtables, seminars and consciousness-raising workshops to get everyone talking about the issue.

SNCF approaches this issue from a number of angles: compensation policy, recruitment, careers and efforts to fight sexist and sexual violence. We have a zero-tolerance policy for sexist and sexual violence. Stopping sexism and sexual violence is everyone’s business: to prevent and eliminate objectionable behaviour, we all need to be able to identify it. This collective pledge is endorsed by all the CEOs of SNCF Group companies in a short video.

“There are lots of jobs SNCF will only hire men for.” It’s an old cliché that we are doing our best to dispel. We’ve launched a programme called ‘Les Potentielles’ to show students our jobs are open to one and all.

We use it to fight gender stereotypes among middle school, high school and college students. Whether in the classroom or on a behind-the-scenes tour of our facilities, Les Potentielles reaches youngsters from hundreds of secondary schools and universities throughout France.

To make sure our rules treat everyone fairly, we need to do more to make parenting a part of employees’ career path. To this end, we commit to:

• ensuring our employees are paid during maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• helping and encouraging fathers to take paternity leave
• supporting parents through various childcare assistance measures
• fighting presenteeism and reminding employees of their right to disconnect.

Each year in the days leading up to 25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we talk with employees about the fight against spousal violence. Through an array of media including posters, podcasts featuring survivors, interactive workshops, training about street harassment, and more, we educate employees about what’s at stake in both their personal and professional lives.

SNCF Mixité, our employee network dedicated to gender equality, is focused on moving the needle on gender balance and workplace equality. It’s active year-round, building a culture of equality by spearheading the Group’s gender equality trajectory, measuring equality at SNCF Group companies, organizing mentorship programmes, running personal development workshops and more. SNCF Mixité is a space with no hierarchies, where employees from every profession can speak their mind.