BBC Declares War on White Male Train Drivers

In a recent online article, the BBC informed its readers that according to the National Skills Academy for Rail, the average train driver is forty-six years old, male and white. You know that when the BBC reports something like that, it is a cue for yet another condescending lecture about various ‘isms’ and the need to smash yet another glass ceiling.

Zoey Hudson, head of talent, diversity and inclusion at Southern Railway, is quoted in the article as claiming that diversity of gender, ethnicity and age within Southern Railway’s workforce is important because it increases creativity and enriches the working environment. Ergo, Southern Railway will be a more successful business.

There is something irrational and disturbing going on here. In a nation where most people are white and where just under half the population is male, it ought not to be a surprise that there are occupations which are populated mainly by white men. Jobs that involve steering things are traditionally male roles. Most pilots, helmsmen, lorry drivers, chauffeurs and cab drivers are male. That train driving is the same should not be a surprise. As train driving is a sedentary task requiring concentration, it suits older men who are still sufficiently young to be mentally agile. Middle-aged men are less prone to risk-taking than young men, and so placing travellers’ safety in their hands makes sense. Such men are likely to have a wife and children at home, so it makes sense for them to get home in one piece at the end of their shift, and if they do, so will their passengers.

There seems to be something about men that makes them like to work and play with machines. Trainspotters, model aircraft enthusiasts and people who love customising their cars are invariably male. It is likely this is something that is hardwired into men. It is old news to sociologists and psychologists, who are honest about the data that men and women are different when it comes to their occupational choices. To put it simply, women are more likely to choose occupations which are centred around people and men are more likely to choose occupations that focus on objects. Therefore, the healthcare professions are majority female and engineering is majority male. Of course, there are exceptions, but that is the broad pattern. Neither sex is superior to the other, but need each other to create a balanced society which is the true definition of diversity.

On the point of increasing creativity through diversity, can anyone think of a way in which train driving is creative? The train follows a preordained route and is subject to strict controls such as speed and signals. It is a routine, solitary job which requires other qualities such as steadiness, maturity and calmness. So what could Hudson the diversity guru mean? Train drivers singing over the public address system whilst strumming a guitar as the train is stationary at a red light?

There is also a monumental hypocrisy going on here which is a fundamental characteristic of the liberal feminism that permeates the BBC. When was the last time we heard a feminist demanding an equal representation of women to men in the most deadly occupations? According to the Health and Safety Executive, the UK occupational sector that is by far the leading cause of fatalities is construction followed by agriculture, forestry and fishing. These occupations are populated overwhelmingly by men. Yet we do not hear feminists chanting, “You go girl and lay that tarmac!” What we get from feminists is a demand for selective equality and privilege (in other words, privilege), which is equal opportunities to do the work women choose to do and the privilege of not risking their lives to make a living. The double-standard is so obvious it is laughable and yet we are not meant even to notice, let alone say it, in this ‘feminised’ age.

The BBC goes on to inform us that 8.5% of train drivers are women and 9.2% come from ethnic heritages other than white. This fact coupled with the fact that there is a diversity of people who work at stations and the fact that employment law forbids discrimination suggest that women and people of other ethnicities are choosing for some reason not to apply for train driver jobs rather than being excluded.

But what did we expect? We are dealing with the BBC that diabolises anyone ‘male, pale and stale’ in its crusade for gender equality and racial justice. Of course, that does not seem to apply to the director general of the BBC, Tim Davie, who is middle-aged, white and male.

Here is a suggestion for the BBC and the diversity industry: rather than seeing discrimination in every corner of the universe, why not be open to other possible reasons why there is an overrepresentation of a particular group within a particular occupation, which have nothing to do with discrimination but have much to do with personal choice?

Peter Harris is the author of two books, The Rage Against the Light: Why Christopher Hitchens Was Wrong (2019) and Do You Believe It? A Guide to a Reasonable Christian Faith (2020).

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