A Hitchin bus operator is celebrating women in transport for International Women's Day today, Friday (March 8), by showcasing women within the company.

Stagecoach have been driving forward several initiatives to build an inclusive workforce that represents all the customers and communities it serves.

International Women's Day 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.

Darren Roe, Managing Director of Stagecoach East, said: "I am very pleased to say that the days of buses being a male-dominated industry are rapidly fading into the distant past.

"Today, women are an essential part of our business at all levels, and I would encourage any young woman locally to consider that Stagecoach East might well be somewhere your career can prosper.

"Take the case of Lisa Lowther, one of our drivers, who was recently a Finalist for a Stagecoach Excellence Award. She has been with the company for 35 years and made national headlines, many years ago, as the first ever bus driver. Such trailblazers have done the hard work, so that women can now thrive in the bus industry.

"Also, Amber Olney, our exceptional Head of Marketing, who has led so many important initiatives locally. She was recently named as a Finalist at the UK Bus Awards and is a former winner of Stagecoach's Young Managers Network Excellence Award."

Taking on this year's theme of 'Inspire Inclusion', the wider Stagecoach group has collaborated with its internal Women's Network to produce a video which showcases women leading the way within Stagecoach and challenging stereotypes surrounding women in transport.

Featured in the video are a range of women from different areas of the business, including Stagecoach's new Chief Executive Officer Claire Miles. From engineering to commercial planning, the video gives examples of the variety of opportunities available.

Claire said: "It was a delight to be included amongst a collection of fantastic women from across Stagecoach, demonstrating the variety of opportunities available in transport.

"Ensuring Stagecoach is an employer of choice by actively creating space for diversity and inclusion benefits not only Stagecoach but the wider transport sector. We actively promote diversity and inclusion through a variety of ways, from strategic objectives such as targeting 40% female leaders and 25% of employees from ethnic backgrounds by 2026 and through to our employee led networks.

"Targets such as these help Stagecoach to continue on a positive journey to transform the diversity of the transport sector, but this can only be achieved if we champion women and inspire inclusion."

You can watch Stagecoach's video for International Women's Day here - https://youtu.be/VfJjaaqeK1I