Monday marked the third anniversary of the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter, and where has the time gone?

Launched in 2018 at Farnborough International Airshow, the Charter is a pledge for gender balance across aviation and aerospace and commits industry to be the best at driving diversity and inclusion by providing fair opportunities for women to succeed to the highest levels.

Progress so far:

Despite the global pandemic, the Charter has reached new heights and now boasts more than 230 signatories. Since its inception, the Charter has united the aviation and aerospace industry into taking action to drive change by:

  • Empowering more than 230 organisations to commit to increasing diversity.
  • Launching a report in partnership with Korn Ferry which analyses the lack of gender balance in the aviation and aerospace sectors.
  • Launching a free online resource hub, which currently contains more than 100 articles, tools and other resources offering practical advice on how to achieve greater gender balance across the aviation and aerospace industries.
  • Continuing to support the signatories to improve gender balance in the industry, despite the ongoing challenges of COVID-19.

Birthday Celebrations at Farnborough Connect

Last week, Farnborough International Airshow Connect took place, and to mark the Charter’s birthday, Sumati Sharma, Aviation Partner at Oliver Wyman, and co-founder of the Charter co-hosted an event with IATA entitled ‘Challenging Together’.

Panellists included Jacqui Sutton, Chief Customer Officer – Civil Aerospace at Rolls-Royce and Co-Chair of WiAAC, Chris Browne OBE, Non-Executive Director at Norwegian Air, and Willie Walsh, Director General at IATA. Topics ranged from the importance of diversity and inclusion, the biggest barriers facing women in industry, the gender pay gap, the benefits of a diverse team and how organisations and the industry can be challenged over the next year. Key takeaways from the panel included:

  • The importance of representation at senior leadership level.
  • The importance of encouraging ambition from the beginning.
  • The importance of authenticity.
  • Information focussed around speeding up D&I progress.

The panel concluded that maintaining a focus on diversity and inclusion as the aviation and aerospace sectors recover from the COVID-19 crisis is paramount. The importance of diversity and inclusion was characterised by research from the World Economic Forum in March 2021. The research found the COVID-19 pandemic will set women back by a whole generation in terms of gender parity and pay gap, highlighting the importance of the WiAAC.

If you missed the panel and would like to read more about WiAAC and IATA’s partnership, please visit here.

Further Information

ADS is a proud signatory of the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter. Find out how you can get involved at: https://www.wiaacharter.com/