Minister calls on aviation to plug the gender gap

Transport Minister Liz Sugg has written to the aviation sector, calling on them to pledge action to overcome the gender gap, ahead of International Women’s Day later this week.

Women account for nearly half (47%) of the national workforce, but only six per cent of airline pilots are women.

Aviation Minister, Liz Sugg, said, “For every hundred airline pilots, ninety-four are male. With a shortage of pilots in the future, the aviation industry needs to be making the best use of the talent in this country.

“There are already some great industry initiatives, and ahead of International Women’s Day we are calling on the aviation industry to pledge action to address this gap.”

International Women’s Day this year is being celebrated on Friday 8 March, with the theme of #BalanceforBetter to drive gender balance across the world.

There are already a number of positive initiatives taking place across the industry:

• Baroness Sugg helped to launch the Women in Aviation Charter, which commits to build a more balanced and fair industry for women
• easyJet is on track to achieve its target of ensuring 20% of its new pilot entrants are female by 2020
• Flybe’s FlyShe campaign raises awareness of gender stereotypes
• London Stansted Airport is a signatory to the Women in Aviation Charter, and has a number of education programmes including its Aerozone centre which have helped inspire thousands of young girls in the last three years.

Liz Austin, HR Director at London Stansted Airport, said, “Encouraging more girls into aviation-related careers is something London Stansted fully supports, and we welcome the government’s drive to increase the number of women in these roles.

“Stansted Airport College was created to build pipeline of future talent, and works hard to promote the many exciting opportunities open to girls in aviation, from engineering to cabin crew.

“Along with our Aerozone education centre for younger children, we’re proud of the part London Stansted is playing in inspiring the next generation of the aviation workforce and look forward to seeing an increase in the representation of women in all sectors.”

International Women’s Day