Dublin Bus has today launched its “More Mná!” campaign, which seeks to double its number of female drivers.
The bus service, which is Ireland’s largest public transport provider, said that they had already almost doubled the number of female drivers over the last several years following a “female-focused recruitment drive” in August 2019, and that they were hoping to repeat these results.
“Although strides have certainly been made, women’s career decisions still seem to be somewhat influenced by gender stereotypes,” the organisation said in a statement, citing a new Dublin Bus survey which found that 25% of Irish women have been deterred from applying for jobs due to certain roles being seen as a “man’s job.”
“While the role of a bus driver may have once had this reputation, the majority of women surveyed view the Dublin Bus driver role as less gender-specific than in the past,” the statement continued.
“When asked if they think driving a Dublin Bus is still seen as a ‘man’s job’, almost half (49%) said yes but less than before.”
Vivienne Kavanagh, Dublin Bus Talent Development and Diversity Manager, hailed the campaign.
“We are so proud to have achieved our previous goal of doubling the number of female drivers at Dublin Bus since our female-recruitment drive in 2019, but we want to double it again!” she said.
“…We want to continue to be part of the change and give women the confidence to go for any job they want to…we’re a big family, but we still want more mná!”
Regarding the “Gender Pay Gap” at the organisation, the bus service went on to boast that it had achieved a “negative pay gap in favour of women.”
“Earlier this year, Dublin Bus also released the results of its 2023 Gender Pay Gap Report, which showed that the company has achieved a negative pay gap in favour of women, marking a significant step on Dublin Bus’ journey towards equality, diversity and inclusion,” they said.
Notably, the organisation stresses that “all Dublin Bus employees are aligned to pay grades which provide for equal pay for equal work irrespective of gender.”
“The gender pay gap is the difference in the average hourly wage of men and women across a workforce,” the group’s website states.
“It compares the pay of all working men and all working women; not just those in same jobs, with the same working patterns or the same competencies, qualifications or experience.
“Although women are underrepresented in the company, making up only 8% of total employees, 33% of women in the company are in the upper quartile of pay. This explains why our mean gender pay gap is -4.1%, which means the gap is slightly in favour of women.”
Notably, as previously reported by Gript, Dublin Bus fully accepts the right of all transgender-identifying staff members to transition to another gender, “which may or may not correspond to the person’s body or designated sex at birth.” This means that biological male Dublin Bus staff must be recognised as female if they choose to identify as such.
Dublin Bus also officially allows biologically-male staff to use women’s toilets and changing rooms if they identify as female, even without surgery.
EXCLUSIVE: Dublin Bus officially encourages staff to learn about “crossdressing” and allows biologically-male staff to use women’s toilets and changing rooms if they identify as female, even without surgery. @Ben_Scallan reports:#gript https://t.co/ytwSubFAhI
— gript (@griptmedia) July 18, 2023