This week we’ve been celebrating both International Women’s Day and Women of Aviation Worldwide Week.
We took a look through FINN’s video archives to share some of the interviews with inspirational women we’ve featured over the last five years.
1) Pushing the boundaries of space exploration – former astronaut Claudie Hagnere
Former astronaut and first French woman in space Claudie Hagnere told the younger generation to be bold, be different, not to stick to old rules… and to push the frontiers of space exploration.
2) “There aren’t going to be enough blokes to do the jobs” – Deidre Hutton, CAA
During FIA Connect 2020, Dame Deidre Hutton, Chair of the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) lamented the UK’s poor record for diversity within engineering – and issued a stark warning that labour shortages would end up forcing aerospace companies to tackle the issue of a gender balanced workforce.
3) KLM pilot Stefanie Broekhuizen discusses pregnancy and breastfeeding on the flight deck
Just six per cent of the pilot workforce are female. Ahead of a lively session on increasing diversity in the workforce at FIA Connect 2021, session speaker Stefanie Broekhuizen, Senior First Officer for the Dutch flag carrier KLM, discussed how to inspire girls into aviation – and described some of the attitudes she’d had to face as a pilot and mother of three.
4) Committing to a more balanced future – the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter (WIAAC)
WIAAC was launched at the Farnborough International Airshow in 2018 and since then has attracted signatories from industry primes down to SMEs. FINN caught up with Katherine Bennett, then Senior Vice President of Airbus, a year after the launch to find out how the charter was progressing.
5) Alia Twal – the pilot challenging gender stereotypes in the Middle East
FINN talked to Alia Twal, a first officer with Royal Jordanian and the ambassador and lead for The Ninety-Nines, an association for female pilots challenging Middle Eastern gender stereotypes
