You might also like:
Qatar Airways, whose CEO has come under fire in the past for controversial statements about women, will partner with IATA on the launch of awards designed to promote gender inclusion in the commercial aviation industry.
The first winners of the IATA Diversity & Inclusion Awards will be announced at the trade organization’s annual general meeting this June in Seoul.
IATA has created three categories for the award, each of which will pay $25,000 to the winner or to the winner’s nominated charity.
The Inspirational Role Model Award will be presented to a woman age 30 or older who holds a senior position in the industry. The High Flyer Award will recognize a woman under age 30 who has begun growing her aviation career. And the Diversity and Inclusion Team Award will be given to an airline with an increase in its diversity.
Creation of the award comes nine months after gender inequality became a leading issue at last year’s IATA general meeting in Sydney.
Currently, just two of the 31 CEOs who comprise the IATA board of governors are women — a figure that is roughly in line with the industry itself.
As of last summer, 3% of airline CEOs were women, according to IATA, and women held 8% of airline CFO posts and 3% of COO posts.
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker inflamed the discussion about the dearth of women in aviation leadership at the general session when he said that his airline has a male CEO “because it’s a very difficult position.”
Al Baker, who apologized the following day, made the remark immediately after being elected the rotating one-year chairman of IATA’s board of governors.
In prepared comments Tuesday, Al Baker said Qatar sees the new awards as a long-term project. The airline has committed to supporting the awards for a decade.
“Qatar Airways recognizes the need for wider diversity in the workplace, not just in our airline but across the industry as a whole, which is why we are delighted to have this opportunity to reward individuals and teams who are going against the trend and proving that diversification is the way forward for aviation,” Al Baker said.
Source: travelweekly.com
