Because she is female......

Here is a question......

Do you think that a loco owner/group should tell a railway that one of their drivers cannot drive their loco because she is female?

 

No, the only exception I could see to employing/allowing someone of only one gender in a workplace would be in the case of say a womens refuge, changinging room attendant etc. I don't see how a footplate could be exempt under various sex discrimination laws over recent years.

I could understand a loco owner/group not wanting a specific person to drive their loco but not just because they are a woman.

Neil.

 

Short answer.....no. Is this a hypothetical question or is this a recent event?

 

I could see them stopping the female driver due to the individual being too short to see ahead or her being unable to do some aspect of the required duties due to size or something but that would be equally applicable to a man

 

Recent......

 

That's the long answer, too.
A persons sex, sorry, gender, has nothing to do with it. Strength might, but that is all. I know quite a few female firemen and drivers and they are all very competent, perhaps more competent than the average fella!

 

Utterly nonsensical. Were there wishes agreed to?

Chris

 

Not yet.
Not the railways fault. Staff that know are not impressed

 

It will certainly be the railways fault if they dont stand up for their own volunteers, and if the worst should happen and the specialist or even mainstream press find out about such blatant sexism then they will also suffer the bad PR and the effect it will have on recruiting new volunteers.

That said, hopefully it just reflects the view of one imbecile - those who know about this need to contact other people involved with the engine asap and make them aware.

Chris

 

Dont worry Chris. The railways management (so i understand) are standing up.

 

When I visited the Bluebell Line back in August, there was a young woman driver driving the train I was on. The loco was 34059. She seemed very competent as well, keeping the footplate tidy at Kingscote etc.

 

We have a female driver at Swanage too and she is more than compentant too....
Also have a female fireman and have no complaints from me.....

 

Being a cleaner for a spell at the Bluebell i have spent much time on the footplate and can hand on heart honestly say that there are 2 female Firemen/people who put most male firemen to shame!! Of course it all depends on the individual but in the 21st century there is no place for such discrimination in a VOLUNTEER environment that is often screaming out for more volunteers...Absolutely crazy!

 

Hello all,

I think I have to plea for the opposition.

Morally I can not see a reason why a female driver should not drive a loco. (My wife is a professional loco driver at home in Germany and volunteer driver at two tramway museums.)

Technically and legally gender is usually no reason why someone should not perform a job. There are exceptions (the male lead in a film comes to my mind which is not normally played by an actress ;-) ) but as it has been said before, footplate jobs do not fall under those exceptions.

However, I believe that we are talking about a contractual agreement between the loco owners and the railway where the engine is supposed to operate. If both parties agree that only select drivers may drive the loco and that is part of the hire contract I can not see any legal reason why drivers should not be excluded. It may be technical nonsense to exclude a person because of gender alone, morally it might be objectionable, but I doubt that there is any legal obligation on part of the loco owners to allow all drivers of a certain line to operate their loco. Only if the lady in question is the only driver to be excluded and the railway (not the loco owner!) can not prove that there are reasons other than her gender we can talk about sexual discrimination.

All the above does not stop me from thinking that the situation is pretty stupid and certainly not fit for the 21st century.

Kind regards

Christoph

 

Christoph, i dont think this kind of thing would ever involve lawyers as i cant believe they would put in writing such a demand - however it is extremely embarrassing. If the loco group want to impose such unfair and frankly embarrassing conditions on the use of their engine based purely on sexual discrimination then the railway can, and should, walk away... though if it became public knowledge im sure there would be a swift change of heart!

Chris

 

Maybe it should become public knowledge? I see no reason why the OP cannot tell us who are involved here - if it's simply reporting fact there can be no accusations of libel....

 

Why should a female driver have to prove competency?

If she has passed the inspector for the railway then that is it.

Directors of any railway that accepts a locomotive with that sort of driver caveat must be smoking something!

 

There are many reasons why a loco owner could prevent someone from driving their loco but simply "being a woman" is not one of them.