Rolls-Royce Joins IATA’s Gender Diversity Initiative

Rolls-Royce is celebrating International Women’s Day in style by signing up for IATA’s 25by2025 campaign, an initiative to advance gender diversity in the aviation industry in the next five years.

A pre-eminent engineering company focused on world-class power and propulsion systems, Rolls-Royce said it was proud to be the first aerospace business, outside of the airline community, to support this campaign, which recognises the valuable contribution that women make to the industry.

By joining many of its airline customers in supporting this campaign, the British group has confirmed its commitment to diversifying the work force and promoting more women into leadership roles.

Chief Customer Officer (Civil Aerospace) Jacqueline Sutton said: "With only three per cent of CEO positions in our industry held by women, we have a clear and recognised gender imbalance challenge that must be addressed."

"We are proud to be the first non-airline to participate in this exciting IATA initiative, which leads the way in taking the necessary steps to solving this issue. As a company we are committed to the diversification of our workforce and to developing the many talented and gifted women among us into leaders of the future," stated Sutton.

IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said: "The 25by2025 aims to improve gender diversity in aviation. With Rolls-Royce joining, we are adding a new dimension to the campaign, which initially focused on airlines."

"Gender diversity needs to be a priority across the value chain. I hope that the leadership of Rolls Royce in signing up to 25by2025 will inspire more of our industry partners to join," remarked de Juniac.

As a member of 25by2025, Rolls-Royce said it will be delivering on the below commitments: Increasing the number of women in leadership positions to a minimum representation of 25 per cent by 2025 and reporting annually on key diversity metrics.