Western Railroad Discussion > Women working in freight service?

It has been a long time since I have seen a woman working in freight service. Of course women are welcome to apply for and work in freight service but I am wondering if the hours, working conditions and a male dominated environment serve as a dis-incentive for women to even apply for positions involving the operation of freight trains. I am all for women working in freight railroading but these days I do not see that happening so would you all agree or disagree with my
thoughts on this topic?

I do not ride Amtrak and commuter trains very often so I am really not sure how many women serve as engineers and conductors for Amtrak and commuter agencies.

We've got female conductors, engineers, yardmasters, dispatchers, and now even an assistant track supervisor where I work.  I work with them every day. 

Why does it matter what sex they are anymore?   Wake up, it's the 21st Century...

The railroad that brings my railroad cars has a couple of female conductors/brakeman and to be honest they are better than a lot of the guys that said RR has. Kinda agree with last posters comments its the 21st century women railroaders are everywhere.
                                                                                Mark Mautner
                                                                     Respondek Railroad

i just found out a female ac/conductor i knew at Amtak is now a TM Train Manager ... shes one of many females in the operating depts ... they are certainly out there ...

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We have women as conductors where I work and I gotta be honest they all suck... they are terrible at their job, usually never come into work and there's nothing the RR will do to them cause they are women, but I can tell you first hand when the male doesn't come into work he gets in trouble. We had a female trainmaster who was terrible, we have a few women yardmaster that are terrible, they just aren't any good at their jobs

Posted from Android

We have three here, one engineer and two conductors. One of the conductors talk way too much that a lot of us dread working with her. But overall they are great workers.

They're out there, but I don't think the percentages are as great at the freight carriers as they are at Amtrak.

A guy I know who's now retired from Espee said he was convinced that carrier preferred to hire the ugliest, most-masculine females as possible so that it would short-circuit any potential problems with sexual harassment in the workplace coming from the males.

Sounds like it could be plausible logic! 

We have our share, but there numbers are small in comparison to the males. Most that I have worked with are good workers, a few suck, just like the males.

Plenty of female engineers and conductors work with me at the orange company

Where I work, there was a big push to hire women in the 70's but, in the last year or so, all but one of them has retired and, although the railroad has been hiring constantly for the past year, they haven't hire any women, and conspicuously so.

To say there is no difference in the sexes is silly, but there are certainly a few females are well suited and good at railroading. But railroading is just one of those jobs that naturally attracts males and intimidates females. Apparel retail sales has very much the opposite effect.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

As in most jobs, it shouldn't really matter if they are male or female, but how they do the job.  Once hired, though, it can be tricky for the employer to ensure performance and distribute disciplinary action against a female.   It is easy for a women to sue and complain of discrimination (and win) and this is true in a number of professions.   That's unfortunately the reality of the world we live in.  Railroading is a job that will always be male dominated because of the physical nature of the work.  There are sociological factors as well that prevent most women from even considering a job on the railroad.  Men and women are different.  That's reality.   It doesn't mean every man is better (or better suited) at every physical job than every female, but in general, that is true.

It's great to see a women in such a career, that is good at what she does and accepts all the things that every employee has to deal with.   For those that have hired on in the last 5 years or so, have any of you had female trainees in your 'class' that have stuck around?  It seems to me that the rate of hiring women has slowed in recent years - but I could be completely wrong. 

Check out Boomers, Railroad Memoirs by Linda G. Niemann.  Her book and subsequent books and articles are a close, if gritty look at women in railroading.  Unforgettable.

I also knew Eileen Galliher who was the first female engineer on Union Pacific's lst District (Council Bluffs- North Platte).  She also worked for a time out of Cheyenne.  She started out on UP as a secretary in the public relations department in Omaha. She came from a railroad family.  She and her husband divorced leaving her as a single mom with two young daughters to support.  She heard UP was hiring engineers and the pay was much better than as a secretary.  This was in the 1970s.  She went to the engineering training center in Salt Lake City and then marked up in Council Bluffs.  

I met her when I transferred to the UP Museum in Council Bluffs in 2005.  Eileen was working there as a volunteer after she had to take an early retirement because of an on duty injury.  She was very active in the Union Pacific Employees Club and had served as the president.  Even the ring tone on her cell phone was a chime horn!  She enjoyed being an engineer and liked to talk about the characters she rode with.  "All we could do is talk.  After all it was Nebraska and all I had to do was just run the train and blow the horn."  She passed away not long after I retired in 2011.  She was a good gal.

John Bromley



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/15 09:38 by Copy19.

P Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As in most jobs, it shouldn't really matter if
> they are male or female, but how they do the
> job.  Once hired, though, it can be tricky for
> the employer to ensure performance and distribute
> disciplinary action against a female.   It is
> easy for a women to sue and complain of
> discrimination (and win) and this is true in a
> number of professions.   That's unfortunately
> the reality of the world we live in.  Railroading
> is a job that will always be male dominated
> because of the physical nature of the work. 
> There are sociological factors as well that
> prevent most women from even considering a job on
> the railroad.  Men and women are different. 
> That's reality.   It doesn't mean every man is
> better (or better suited) at every physical job
> than every female, but in general, that is true.
>
> It's great to see a women in such a career, that
> is good at what she does and accepts all the
> things that every employee has to deal with.  
> For those that have hired on in the last 5 years
> or so, have any of you had female trainees in your
> 'class' that have stuck around?  It seems to me
> that the rate of hiring women has slowed in recent
> years - but I could be completely wrong. 

Truth be told, it's a profession that doesn't appeal to most women. Even a true gender-neutral workplace doesn't guarantee that numbers would be equal between the sexes, rather like the lack of men in primary education and nursing. Now if only the social architects and lawyers would accept this fact, and stop looking for monstrous conspiracies.

ATSF5964 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> P Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > As in most jobs, it shouldn't really matter if
> > they are male or female, but how they do the
> > job.  Once hired, though, it can be tricky for
> > the employer to ensure performance and
> distribute
> > disciplinary action against a female.   It is
> > easy for a women to sue and complain of
> > discrimination (and win) and this is true in a
> > number of professions.   That's unfortunately
> > the reality of the world we live in. 
> Railroading
> > is a job that will always be male dominated
> > because of the physical nature of the work. 
> > There are sociological factors as well that
> > prevent most women from even considering a job
> on
> > the railroad.  Men and women are different. 
> > That's reality.   It doesn't mean every man
> is
> > better (or better suited) at every physical job
> > than every female, but in general, that is
> true.
> >
> > It's great to see a women in such a career,
> that
> > is good at what she does and accepts all the
> > things that every employee has to deal
> with.  
> > For those that have hired on in the last 5
> years
> > or so, have any of you had female trainees in
> your
> > 'class' that have stuck around?  It seems to
> me
> > that the rate of hiring women has slowed in
> recent
> > years - but I could be completely wrong. 
>
> Truth be told, it's a profession that doesn't
> appeal to most women. Even a true gender-neutral
> workplace doesn't guarantee that numbers would be
> equal between the sexes, rather like the lack of
> men in primary education and nursing. Now if only
> the social architects and lawyers would accept
> this fact, and stop looking for monstrous
> conspiracies.

Problem is that there are some folks who make hiring decisions who do descriminate.
And the excuse given when called on it is that they don't want to be bothered with dealing with "female problems".
And it only takes a couple of them to make everyone else look bad.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why does it matter what sex they are anymore?  
> Wake up, it's the 21st Century...

What kind of a defensive response is that? There are many foamers (like me) who enjoy seeing and hearing women railroaders without being creepy, you know?

Unless of course, people have become so creepy lately that it's politically incorrect to even discuss this?  That means the society is actually on the decline in the 21st Century.

I've said before in other threads that there are numerous women railroaders in Northern California, especially on Amtrak. There's a woman UP conductor with enough seniority to hold a local job, and although I don't work with her (obviously), she seems to know what she's doing.

I've seen women engineers in Las Vegas and Reno before (UP). Also met a BNSF woman instructor (for engineers) at Omaha, NE, during Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, and her main territory is in Illinois. Talked to a woman BNSF conductor at Tehachapi during the Amtrak detours several years ago. Seems if I am randomly running into women railroaders in my travels, the hiring situation must be improving?

Off topic, but I do have a story about women workers. They were not common in high tech when I was in the field, but one woman was extraordinary, probably the best in the group. She eventually became manager, but people were afraid to challenge her, because they were intimidated by her knowledge and skill. So when she was driving a woman colleague too hard, everyone was afraid to stand up to her... except silly ol' me.

I challenged the lady boss to examine closer the work the woman worker was doing, that she was actually doing a pretty good job. She answered my challenge, and had the integrity to admit she was driving her too hard. It was unsaid, but perhaps she expected the worker to perform as good as or better than she was.

So for me, I'm way past "does it matter what sex they are anymore?" But I'm not in denial about attraction of the opposite sex. So this thread needs to way way lighten up.