The Bangladesh Railway (BR) is still to stand out as an attractive place for women as only 2.0 per cent females are working at official ranks.
The latest data shows 26 female officials now work in mechanical, civil, electrical, store, traffic and signal divisions with their male counterparts.
According to the BR website, approximately 1,270 officials are working for the state-owned rail department.
Only recently, the railway got its first female chief engineer, Najnin Ara Keya, and a female locomaster (train driver), Salma Khatun, in September 2017.
Sources said recruitment of females for rail service started at the beginning of 2001 when only four female engineers against 24 males joined as BCS cadres.
Since then, a handful of female officials joined the BR every year, but they either left it or switched to administration.
The female locomaster joined as an assistant locomaster in 2004 and was promoted in 2017. She is now running DEMU (Diesel Electric Multiple Unit) train on Dhaka-Gazipur route.
A total of 16 assistant locomasters are now working in different zones-one in Dhaka, six in Chittagong, three in Lalmonirhat and six in Pakshi, sources added.
In third-class ranks, female recruitment was, however, very poor for not getting enough response from female candidates, said an official. Najnin Ara Keya, BR's first chief engineer, told the FE that she got surprised after finding themselves the first females recruited in the BR.
This happened as a time when other skill-based government agencies had a great number of female officials, he said.
As Ms Keya worked in the local government engineering department before joining the BR, she found nearly hundred lady engineers working there.
Currently, five females are working at mechanical, six in electrical, one in store, nine in traffic and three in signal divisions.
Ms Salma said working as locomaster is challenging as she has to keep her eyes always attentive to the line.
"I wanted to work in a challenging job and in the area where women hardly choose. So, it helped me go for choosing the railway," said Salma who now runs four trips a day.
Delineating the beginnings of her career, the first chief engineer said, seniors would doubt females' capacity, but they have proven their ability with the passage of time.
As to why the number of females has not increased later, Ms Keya, who is now in charge of Padma Rail Link Project, said women's number is poor due to a halt in recruitment for years.
smunima@yahoo.com