New mentorship scheme for next generation female logistics leaders

Women in Aviation and Logistics (WAL) has launched a new mentorship scheme to support and encourage the NextGen of female leaders.

The scheme is free to join and will bring together industry leaders, both women and men, to mentor and support women looking to develop their careers in the aviation and logistics industry. Seventeen mentors have already signed up.

WAL has developed a new online hub at womeninaviationandlogistics.org with resources to facilitate and support mentors and mentees, who are asked to commit to a minimum of four hours over fourth months.

“We continue to push for gender parity to future-proof and energise our industry by developing projects with tangible results, as well as monitoring the industry to give constructive feedback,” said Emma Murray, chief executive and founder of Meantime Communications.

“For the mentorship scheme, we have put together a workable blueprint, and already have commitment from seventeen industry professionals and counting.

“Now we need companies and individuals to spread the word and encourage mentees to come forward and mentors to sign up. It is up to us all to make a change.”

WAL research reveals that since March of this year, when the movement was launched, only 16 percent of speakers across 16 online events and six in-person conferences were women, with three online events having no women speakers at all.

WAL also looked at current gender balance in the boardrooms and executive teams of 24 industry associations, 13 of which are global, and 11 regional.

From a total of 378 board seats monitored, only 11 percent are occupied by women and four associations have male-only boards.

“Lack of gender balance is visible and audible: only 11 percent of board seats at industry associations are occupied by women and our industry events count only 16% of females speaking,” said Céline Hourcade, founder and managing director of Change Horizon.

“We certainly lack women at the top and women with specific expertise, and when they are in place, they are not always visible, or known to event organisers, groups looking for board members, or journalists: that is why we created a database of female experts.

“We are calling on more women to sign up and for the industry to properly use this resource to drive change.”

The WAL database is now searchable and hosted on the new website, including women who have registered an interest in speaking at events, putting themselves forward for board membership, and giving expert input for journalists.

The WAL database is free to use and join, requiring only a sign-up on the hub. It already includes over 40 women who are experts in their field and are ready to have their voices heard.

It has already been used by journalists and by seven event organisers to identify inspiring professionals to invite on speaking panels.

WAL was launched last March with a call to individuals, companies, and associations to sign a pledge to promote gender equality in the aviation and logistics industry.

The pledge has 87 signatories to date including 26 industry associations and companies.

WAL is a not-for-profit organisation launched by Change Horizon and Meantime Communications to push for gender equality in the industry and to support the NextGen of female leaders.

To fuel the initiative, WAL is also calling for volunteers to support with time, expertise, or sponsorship.