European aviation is working to improve gender balance in the industry. Since 2018, EUROCONTROL has been actively promoting diversity and gender in its HR processes and internally with our staff, and working with partner organizations to try to make a difference.
This year for the first time we teamed up with the Netherlands Chapter of Women in Aviation International and collaborated with NATO and skeyes, to host the 2019 Girls in Aviation Day (GIAD) at our Brussels Headquarters. Complementing major HR initiatives to reach out to female experts and graduates, this event targeted the future generation (15 to 18-year-old teenagers) who are in a place of deciding whether to embark on a STEM (Science, Technology Mathematics and Engineering) path that could lead them in the direction of a career in aviation.
We wanted to showcase the technical careers that aviation offers so we brought the 50+ participants into contact with a series of inspiring women who represented a variety of fields (air traffic control, engineering, human factors and safety, airline and helicopter pilot, and executive and managerial). It was a great opportunity for these participants to learn from speakers who are passionate about aviation and to hear their career stories.
GIAD 2019 allowed the girls to visit the EUROCONTROL Network Manager’s Operations Centre, and through Virtual Reality glasses, they were able to tour our Air Traffic Control Centre in Maastricht. The girls also had the chance to learn how to operate a drone and they were able to sign up for a future visit to an actual control tower at skeyes’ Brussels’ Airport centre.
While capacity and security constraints limit events like these to a handful of enthusiastic teens at a time, social media has allowed us to reach a very large audience with our pre and post-event posts. We hope this will set a new generation on a path to a career in aviation.
To learn more about what we are doing to put in place a more diverse and inclusive workplace, email us at diversity@eurocontrol.int and info@womeninaviation.nl.
Sponsors & partners of the event:
