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Women – aviation needs you!

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Women – aviation needs you!

Sumati Sharma, founder & co-chair for Women in Aviation & Aerospace Charter

Sumati Sharma, founder & co-chair for Women in Aviation & Aerospace Charter, reflects on 16 years of working within aviation and aerospace and how she is encouraging more women to get involved in the industry.

My love for aviation grew from my long-standing passion for travel. As a young girl, my eyes were opened to the diversity of life. My father is from Kenya and mother from India, and we had lived in Holland, France, and Scotland by the time I was thirteen. I started university in Scotland at just sixteen, studying Accounting and Manufacturing Engineering.

I learned very early on to work hard, be inclusive and collaborative. These became important qualities that helped me adapt to new and changing environments. I was exposed at a young age to a range of cultures, thinking, backgrounds and ways of living, speaking and working.

After leaving university, I became a Chartered Accountant in Scotland, and my interest in strategy grew alongside my passion for diversity and inclusivity. After six years as a Chartered Accountant, I moved to the aviation sector, and over the next sixteen years, worked across strategy, finance, commercial and HR at an airline and tour operator.

Developing my career as a senior leader in the aviation industry, I increasingly noticed the absence of female and BAME colleagues, particularly in the finance, commercial and technical functions of the sector. Women make up only 3% of airline CEOs, 5% of pilots, and 10% of engineers. Improving these stark statistics requires the efforts of the whole industry.

As a champion for diversity and inclusivity within travel, I wanted to take real action towards encouraging more women to join the industry. The Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter was founded at the Farnborough Airshow in 2018, with the support of companies and organisations within aviation and aerospace, and the UK Government. Since then, we have gained over 220 signatories and supporting organisations that share our commitment to creating a gender-balanced industry.

Outside of the Charter, I speak regularly on diversity topics, including at the House of Commons and the Aviation 2050 Conference. I’ve been honoured to be named an EMpower Top 100 Ethnic Minority Executive, recognised as an Advocate for Change in the Women in Hospitality, Travel & Leisure Index, and I was awarded the 30% Club scholarship to the London Business School’s Senior Executive Programme. However, the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter is something I am most proud of. Our outstanding team of nearly 40 amazing women and men, all work pro-bono together for the purpose of driving greater gender balance across our industry.

There’s a lot of talk around gender and race, but we must work together as an industry to translate those words into actions. This is something the Charter is very focused on. Recently, the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter launched its new and free to access Resource Hub. We wanted to inspire the next generation of women, from all backgrounds, to feel supported on their journey into aviation and aerospace. It has how-to guides, leading industry commentary, thought leadership, articles and more for every step in the career process. Organisations, individuals and HR teams can use this tool to build a balanced workplace.

The industry has shown so much resilience during the ongoing and incredibly challenging impact of the Covid-19 crisis over the last year. Looking forward, I see promise for the future of aviation and aerospace. I’ve recently joined Oliver Wyman, the global management consulting firm, as a Chartered Accountant and Partner in Aviation in the London office working across strategy and finance projects. Despite the challenges, Covid-19 has encouraged collaboration, partnership and innovation to ensure the industry recovers as a sector more flexible, agile, and open to change.

www.wiaacharter.com

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Source: https://www.aero-mag.com/women-aviation-needs-you/

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