Earlier this month, Collins Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney launched the inaugural Women In Line Leadership (WILL Rise) Conference, to accelerate the growth and advancement of women in aerospace leadership positions.

The conference, which kicked off the wider WILL Rise initiative, took place over two days with approximately 60 women from both companies gathering to learn, discuss and share ideas to address the leadership gender gap within the aerospace and defence industry.

The WILL Rise programme participants will meet on a quarterly basis throughout the year in smaller groups to discuss key topics from strategy and organisational alignment to career advancement and business acumen. Each small group includes an executive mentor as well as an ICF-certified leadership coach.

UTC Chairman and CEO, Greg Hayes, said: “Today, women make up 24% of the aerospace and defence workforce, and 21% of the executive payroll. Yet, globally women represent about 50% of the population and 40% of the workforce. That means as an industry, we have a long way to go.

“UTC is committed to the advancement of women in leadership positions, and the WILL Rise initiative is a great example of how our companies are working together to make that happen.”

UTC has pledged a commitment to the Paradigm for Parity (P4P) coalition to achieving full gender parity across all levels of corporate leadership by 2030, with a near-term goal of women holding at least 30% of senior roles.

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