To celebrate International Women’s Day, Rolls Royce became the first airline supplier to join IATA’s 25by2025 initiative which aims to improve the representation of women in the aviation industry.
“We are proud to be the first aerospace business, outside of the airline community, to support this campaign, which recognises the valuable contribution that women make to the industry,” the company said in a statement. “By joining many of our airline customers in supporting this campaign we confirm our commitment to diversifying our workforce and promoting more women into leadership roles.”
By joining the IATA 25by2025 initiative, Rolls Royce commits to key deliverables:
- Increasing the number of women in leadership positions to a minimum representation of 25% by 2025
- Reporting annually on key diversity metrics
Jacqueline Sutton, Rolls-Royce, Chief Customer Officer – Civil Aerospace, said of the company’s decision to sign up for the voluntary 25by2025 program: “With only three per cent of CEO positions in our industry held by women, we have a clear and recognised gender imbalance challenge that must be addressed. We are proud to be the first non-airline to participate in this exciting IATA initiative, which leads the way in taking the necessary steps to solving this issue. As a company, we are committed to the diversification of our workforce and to developing the many talented and gifted women among us into leaders of the future.”
Alexandre de Juniac, IATA Director General and CEO, welcomed the decision by Rolls Royce, saying: “25by2025 aims to improve gender diversity in aviation. With Rolls-Royce joining, we are adding a new dimension to the campaign, which initially focused on airlines. Gender diversity needs to be a priority across the value chain. I hope that the leadership of Rolls Royce in signing up to 25by2025 will inspire more of our industry partners to join.”