I had the privilege of attending the Wings of Change Europe, in Berlin. It was great to see the combined efforts of IATA members and we are looking forward to the results of 25by2025, the industry-wide campaign aimed at shifting key diversity & inclusion metrics across the aviation industry by a minimum of 25% by 2025.
At Hitit we have already exceeded this target, which makes me very proud to be part of this management team. In 2019, 25 has had a very significant meaning for us, as Hitit celebrated its 25th anniversary with our 300 employees. One of the most fulfilling aspects of this milestone is to witness Hitit becoming the best-in-class in the industry, for establishing a workplace environment that achieves gender diversity. According to the diversity & inclusion, if the metrics are compared it reveals that Hitit’s position in the industry is unique, as 36% of Hitit’s professionals are women, and in top management roles. The results are even more impressive on Hitit’s Executive Board as 67% of members are women and likewise, on the Board of Directors, 50% are women. Our founder CEO is a woman, and this is also remarkable, given that in the aviation industry only 3% of women hold the CEO position.
It’s no secret that there is a massive gender gap in the marketplace, women are under-represented in this sector. Hiring more women can help break the cycle in a male-dominated industry; however, this is not the only solution to balance gender equality. We all know there are other issues women face daily, such as inequality in pay, missing out on promotions, and sexism. Therefore, we should embrace diversity & inclusion as a holistic approach. Once again, I want to thank IATA for this initiative and for leading the 25by2025 campaign. This is not only an industry-wide campaign but also a global program that will encourage all sectoral influencers and players around the world. 25by2025 aims to provide all women in the industry with an opportunity to set achievable targets, and to share best practices, lessons learned and success stories. Airlines that voluntarily commit to this initiative will see their progress shared annually at the IATA World Air Transport Summit and IATA will put in place a forum for airlines to share best practices and ideas. As well as creating this forum for sharing best practices and to collate industry metrics in an annual update, IATA has committed to increasing the number of women in top senior positions; women’s participation at events, on panels and at conferences; and appointing a minimum of 25% women to IATA governance roles. This will force the members of the aviation community to reach higher.
I would like to end my blog with a quote from Amelia Earhart who is a pioneer in aviation and set several records for "firsts" for women. “... now and then women should do for themselves what men have already done -- occasionally what men have not done -- thereby establishing themselves as persons, and perhaps encouraging other women toward greater independence of thought and action. Some such consideration was a contributing reason for my wanting to do what I so much wanted to do.”