The path of women on the railroad: from cleaning to driving trains

As in many other industries that are traditionally male, women had to literally punch their way of recognition in the professional environment on the railroad for several centuries. Ukrainian women have also made a significant contribution to this.

Сomfortable working conditions in modern trains
Сomfortable working conditions in modern trains

It is believed that some of the first women officially employed on the railway were American Susan Moningstar and Catherine Shirley. Back in 1855, they were hired by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad company. The duties included maintaining cleanliness and order in the cars.

Later on the American Railways, in the era of its rapid development, women worked as telegraph operators, engineers, and even managed companies.

The first woman in the world to run a railroad was Sarah Clark Kidder, who was elected president of the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad in California in 1901 after the death of her husband, the owner of the company.

Railroad manager Sarah Clark Kidder / American Association of Railways' first female engineer Olive Denis demonstrates suggestions for improving passenger railcar comfort
Railroad manager Sarah Clark Kidder / American Association of Railways’ first female engineer Olive Denis demonstrates suggestions for improving passenger railcar comfort

Many inventions that are used in transport have been made by women. For example, Mary Anderson patented a window cleaner in 1903, the forerunner of today’s wipers.

One of the specialties to which the way was closed for women for a long time is a locomotive driver. Women in the Soviet Union managed to achieve success in this. Moreover, one of the famous pioneers was Elena Chukhnyuk, a Ukrainian by nationality, who was born on March 12, 1917 in the village. Dyakovka, Vinnytsia district (now – Bershad district, Vinnytsia region).

After the family moved to Belarus in 1938, she entered the courses for assistants to the steam locomotive driver at the Gomel locomotive depot. This was the time when women were allowed to work as machinists and actively encouraged them to go to the railroad. Since then, they went, of course, not only to train drivers, but also worked as switchmen, locksmiths, track fitters.

After completing the courses, Elena Chukhnyuk became an assistant driver, and then – a steam locomotive driver. She drove heavy trains to Orsha, Mogilev, Chernigov. In 1941 she was awarded the title of “Honorary Railroad Worker”, and in 1943 she was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, the highest award of that time, for carrying out transportation for the front during the war years.

The famous poster of 1939 / Elena Chukhnyuk is one of the first railway women who received the highest state award for labor / Elena Chukhnyuk at the helm of the holiday train
The famous poster of 1939 / Elena Chukhnyuk is one of the first railway women who received the highest state award for labor / Elena Chukhnyuk at the helm of the holiday train

Elena Chukhnyuk worked, in particular, on the sections of the South-Western and Lviv railways (Kiev – Kazatin – Zhmerynka – Gusyatin – Lvov – Ternopil – Przemysl). Later she moved to the Ministry of Railways, was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. She lived in Moscow, where she was buried after her death in 2014. Several passenger trains are named after her.

It is interesting that Elena Chukhnyuk and her colleagues such as Zinaida Troitskaya and Basharat Mirbabayeva began working as locomotive drivers long before it spread in other countries of the world with a developed railway transport network.

For example, in the United States, Christine Gonzalez Aldeis is considered the first female locomotive driver, who was only hired in 1973 by the Santa Fe Railway (now BNSF), an iron first class. While back in the 1940s in the United States, women were often tram drivers. At the same time, many female subway teams were working in the USSR.

At the birthplace of the railway, in the UK, Karen Garrison is considered the first. She worked as a train driver for British Rail from 1978 to 1997.

Currently, the number of women at the helm of locomotives on the railway has increased significantly. There are many of them in the countries of the European Union, in particular, in Scandinavia. In some companies, up to 10% of locomotive crews are women. This is largely due to the improvement in working conditions as a result of the renewal of rolling stock and the improvement of management systems.

In independent Ukraine, a woman on a locomotive is a very rare and not advertised phenomenon. The first obstacle was the order of the Ministry of Health “On Approval of the List of Heavy Work and Work with Harmful Working Conditions”, which prohibits the use of women’s labor, the order was in effect from 1993 to 2017. This document provided for a wide list of railway specialties, closed to the beautiful half of humanity. Currently, the most widespread profession of Ukrzaliznytsia, which employs more women, is considered to be a “rail crossing duty officer”.

Railway magazine “Railway Supply”

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