Major Air Transport Summit Concludes… Member states push women and youth involvement in aviation sector

Nov 25, 2018 News

The three-day Air Transport Meeting of the International Civil Aviation Council has concluded with major discussions on partnership between Africa and the Diaspora (specifically the Caribbean) on how the regions can cooperate to develop their aviation sectors to the highest global standards.
Heavily discussed and high on the list of priorities for the meeting, on Friday, was the importance of representation in the aviation sector for women and youth.
The panel, which was moderated by Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson, discussed the fact that “Africa and the diaspora don’t know much about each other” because of the regions’ dependence on Western media.
Participants posited that for the two regions of Africa and the Caribbean to work successfully toward the liberalisation of international air transport, they must also focus on linking the region by culture, sports, education, healthcare and other major industries.
For the regions to be successfully linked, consensus was met on the fact that women and youth must be more involved in this development plan.
Participants from both regions shared their experiences. They spoke about the brain drain–young people leaving to train in the Global North, particularly in North America and Europe, then choosing to work in those countries because of more attractive compensation and benefits.
A representative from Trinidad’s aviation sector related that in 1998, a Trinidadian airline suffered a major loss of 13 qualified engineers within about a week because they were offered contracts by foreign companies who offered more lucrative benefits.
The engineers had left for the Middle East. The company was forced to bring in expatriates from Ireland, and had to pay significantly more for that service, because of the compensation they are accustomed to in their home country. That lasted for more than a year.
The Trinidadian concluded that people do not only need opportunities but competitive compensation for their expertise.
Though there were many women participating in the summit proceedings, the panel noted that there is still much to be done to have women feel welcome in the aviation sector, since the sector is dominated by career paths, which are traditionally assigned to men.
A participant from St. Vincent said that women have been excluded from the aviation sector because men think that women are not capable enough to rise to good technical positions and careers in the industry.
Another participant, referring to her experience in Guyana, said that there is a lot of nepotism in Guyana; “You have to know someone to get somewhere.”
Seeming to address the Minister Annette Ferguson, she said, “We have to look at how we can leverage diversity because it’s a point of strength.”
Minister Ferguson said that the aviation sector may not be gender balanced, but she believes that there is gender equity. She said that the government has expended millions of dollars to train technical officers in the sector.
And though they may not have big salaries, they benefit from career and personal development at a cost borne by the government.
The Minister said that women may want to go into traditional jobs such as teaching and nursing but even then, the government is working to include courses in the school system that encourage persons to train in important sectors such as aviation.
Minister Ferguson urged the participants to go back to their respective states with the political will to enforce meaningful change for the development of their aviation sectors, and for the cooperation that the regions intend to focus on.

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Major Air Transport Summit Concludes… Member states push women and youth involvement in aviation sector

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