First Bus MD celebrates the women of bus on International Women's Day

International Women’s Day 2022

In celebration of International Women’s Day, we’re highlighting some of the amazing women who work with us here at First Bus. Here’s to you all!

The theme for International Women's Day 2022 is #BreakTheBias which promotes individual responsibility for challenging stereotypes, fighting bias, broadening perceptions, improving situations, and celebrating women's achievements.

'We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.'

International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality. IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group or organisation specific.

You can find out more about IWD here: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Our MD Janette Bell took up her position as the first female MD of First Bus in December 2020 and is overseeing a transformational change programme across the business.

Janette Bell, Managing Director for First Bus said:

“Traditionally, the transport industry has been dominated by men, but I am happy to say that's changing, thanks in part to the work we are doing to address the gender imbalance within our own company.

“I'm proud of the work we're doing and proud of the women who work alongside me in all areas of the business. We recognise that there is still more to do, and this is a challenge that we are not afraid to address.

“I look forward to the day when we no longer refer to female leaders, female engineers, and female bus drivers but simply leaders, engineers, and bus drivers.” #BreakTheBias

First Bus has re-invigorated its focus on equality, diversity and inclusion, joining forces with an external expert partner to lead us through a full ‘EDI health check’ of the business, seeking to understand what we do well in the space and what can be done better.

As part of this, we are keen to understand much more than policies and ways of working but also to listen to our colleagues’ experiences in order to create a strategy and action plan that will truly make a difference and enable all colleagues, and potential future colleagues to feel heard, valued and included.

Public transport serves everyone, no matter what their differences might be, and at First Bus we want to be an employer open to you, no matter what your differences are.

We’re always looking for talented and passionate people to join us and we have opportunities across the UK from Drivers & Engineers to Commercial and Support roles.

To find out more about our roles click here: FirstGroup Careers