First created a little more than 10 years ago, "SNCF Mixité" (the SNCF gender equality network), and its 12,000 members, is the largest such network in France dedicated to this issue, and the only one with a full-time president. Anne-Sophie Nomblot (EDHEC Master 2004) tells us about the initiatives put in place to work towards gender equality and collaborative projects with other bodies working on diversity in the workplace!

How would you summarise your current position and responsibilities?

My role is to set out the SNCF’s path towards gender equality together with the HR department, and to oversee the running of a community of some 80 volunteers within the firm. “Embassies” for each line of business and geographic zone, in France and abroad and at all levels of the hierarchy, organise local meetings, events and training courses in line with national strategy. We bring them together regularly to host meetings and suggest content. 

I’m also part of the Department for social, territorial and environmental commitment, which includes a role in “Innovation and transformation”, to which the "SNCF Mixité" network belongs. 

You are fully focused on gender equality, after various experiences in management and operations. At what point did you decide to concentrate full-time on gender equality? 

It happened little by little. I wasn’t especially feminist or committed, that wasn’t part of my education. When I became station chief at Marne-la-Vallée, a visiting Japanese delegation offered me a tie as a gift, because they felt it would be natural for that position to be occupied by a man. That episode sparked the first light bulb. When the network was set up, I began to take part in personal development workshops. Later, I was mentored as part of the network. I also served as ambassador and then as an intrapreneur. It was thanks to the network that my awareness of these issues grew. 

What are the skills you like to highlight in this position?

The sum of the wide-ranging capabilities in project management I developed in my previous operational positions! I also think it’s very important in annual assessments to emphasise the skills that our ambassadors have developed on the ground (contacts in the firm, public speaking, etc). Such personal commitment benefits the firm, which in return must provide them with human and financial resources and offer them recognition. So each year I inform the managers of our ambassadors about the actions taken.

When the name of the network was changed from “SNCF au féminin” to “SNCF Mixité” in 2021, did that bring about a shift in perspective among men? 

Yes, it did. Before 2021, a lot of men were aware of the issues and wanted to act, but some wondered whether they were welcome. But these are questions for us all! Men now make up around 25% of the network. On average, women are a bit more aware of these issues than men, and young people more than their elders. But there are so many disparities that I would be reluctant to describe a typical profile, as it would probably be inaccurate!

At SNCF, how are decisions made with regard to gender equality when compared to diversity more generally? 

At the HR Department, the “Diversity and inclusion” unit manages all questions relating to diversity in the context of agreements between social partners. There are also several initiatives taken by the firm, like the association LGBT+ (Gare!) or another on cognitive diversity (Douances et Zébritudes), which can lead to more specific actions. The directors of some establishments for example have reached out to me to discuss practicalities after one of their staff members underwent a gender transition: changing email address, changing rooms, toilets, etc. We are often asked to communicate with the association equipped to handle this kind of situation and support the process. 

We refused to take on all diversity-related issues, first of all because women make up half of humanity and because much remains to be done, but also because it is illegal to record statistics on skin colour, sexual orientation or disability, which makes oversight of these issues very different. 

How do you manage to embed practices within the firm?

We develop figures for the path towards gender equality. We keep a close eye on the gender pay gap – less than 1% since our remuneration framework is that of a public firm –, the presence of women in management bodies and in technical positions, and the fight against sexism and sexual harassment. New issues are finally coming to the fore, like equal access to training. This is not just about indicators, there is a real shift in the corporate culture, in close contact with people.

On domestic violence, SNCF is in a position to provide emergency support or put in place a psychological support unit for children. We provide training to colleagues and managers so they can identify weak signals of violence. I have also trained our ambassadors to encourage victims of domestic violence, sexism or sexual harassment to speak out.

Do the actions of the "SNCF Mixité" (gender equality) network also target users?

Ultimately, yes. An increasing number of studies show that women do not travel in the same way as men, particularly when it comes to daily journeys. Men mainly commute (by car), while women do less mileage and make more stops along the way (to pick up the kids or buy bread). Furthermore, feelings of insecurity in public transport are more prevalent among women than men. This requires us to think about our commercial offer, based on studies that look at gender, as well as travel motivations and timetables. 

In Femmes invisibles, the author Caroline Criado Perez cites the city of Karlskoga in Sweden, which one day decided to clear the snow from bike paths and pavements as a priority rather than doing the roads first, which is the way they had always done things, as a way to enable women to travel more easily. Healthcare expenditure fell, as did the risk of accidents. Urban planning and rail travel are often designed by men. Including the two genders in the thought process is a way to ask alternative questions, with a view to making changes that benefit everyone.

Shouldn’t diversity be driven by the political powers rather than firms?

In CSR, you often hear about the “triangle of inaction”: the three key actors – public authorities (politicians), firms and citizens – keep putting the onus on each other to act. Citizens will be willing to sort their waste once there is a law compelling them to do so, while politicians say that it is up to firms to improve their sorting process. However, the reverse is true when it comes to diversity. Many laws have been passed, including the “Rixain” legislation on the 40% quota of women on executive committees. We are still a long way from achieving this in France. But there is clear political pressure when it comes to gender equality. Some firms follow the lead of others, while some anticipate, something they didn’t do in the past. From the citizen’s perspective, much progress has also been made in the world of associations. We are seeing real steps forward across the board in this triangle. 

Are the laws and quotas put in place retroactively beneficial for women? 

I think it’s a mandatory transitional step along the way. Things could be done with a slightly lighter touch, but it is laws that enable women to access strategic positions. Other European countries don’t have these laws, and it is in France that one finds the largest number of women on boards of directors. The feminization of the professional sphere has also brought about greater diversity of backgrounds and a lower average age of board members. These laws have brought women 25 years forward. However, the number of men that sit on executive committees has not particularly declined. It’s more a case of an increase in the number of seats now occupied by women. The next battleground will be to ensure that these strategic posts are not given to men. 

As the biggest feminine network in France, do you have a role to play in encouraging other firms to develop the system? 

Yes, of course, indeed there are meta-networks on gender equality like Alliance de la mixité en entreprise or the Observatoire de la mixité; many actors come together with colleagues from both private and public sector firms to share best practices and roll out ideas on a large scale. We are trying to have an impact on young people: those who undergo training go to secondary schools to talk about the rise in gender stereotypes when it comes to career orientation (boys targeting technical professions, girls working in care), and now about the harassment young women face in public transport. 

Will the "SNCF Mixité" network one day become obsolete?

One day, I would like to talk about gender inequality in the past tense! But we have a long way to go. To be honest, the percentage of women at SNCF – 24% – still hides our efforts to increase the role of women in technical professions. Despite all of our initiatives, we are far from irreproachable. 

Indeed, I’m not certain the situation is any better in the new generation, particularly on sexism. So I’m not yet completely optimistic. But let’s imagine that we succeed and that all jobs at SNCF display gender equality with no more gender pay gap: the issue will no longer be equality, but I think that the principle of the network will survive. Our atypical way of doing things, with a flat hierarchy, allows the emergence of innovations and works like an incubator: the feedback we get from the ground comes from all quarters and generates many projects on both small and large scales.