Indian Railways is at its inclusive best, as per official data. While women made up 6.6 per cent of the workforce in 2014, they now form 8.2 per cent of the workforce. That means, more than 1.13 lakh women are employed in the Indian Railways, which has a 12.3 lakh-strong workforce across the country.
What is most encouraging is that women are now taking on roles with greater responsibilities, with 2,162 working as loco pilots, 4,446 as ticket examiners, 4,430 as pointsmen, 794 as train managers or guards, 1,699 as station masters, 12,362 as office staff and 2,360 as supervisors across India. A significant 7,756 are working in the area of track maintenance, too, a domain which was once considered to be dominated by men and unfit for women.
The number of loco pilots has gone up five times in the past 10 years.
In 2023, the Indian Railways had announced that women working as track maintainers and assistant loco pilots would have the option to apply for a change of job category if they so wished. In other words, the Ministry of Railways had said it would begin considering their application for change of role. It was realized that the job could prove to be very demanding especially if a woman is pregnant, as the facilities are limited and the nature of job may require them to sit for long hours at a stretch.