This International Women’s Day and Women of Aviation Week, the Australian Government is continuing to invest in women’s futures in transport, working in partnership with our aviation sector to deliver new activities under the Women in the Aviation Industry Initiative.
There was a highly competitive tender process and four specialised suppliers have been selected to deliver projects that will help to shift the dial on diversity, inclusion and representation in Australia’s aviation industry.
This includes forums to support our emerging women leaders in aviation, an Aviation Career Explorer program to boost aviation interest amongst high school students, and encouraging male champions in the industry to drive long-term cultural change to increase inclusion for everyone – all to be delivered by WAI Australian Chapter.
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology will run programs for flight instructors to foster leadership and inclusion skills, as well as for high school students to develop their interest in STEM careers in aviation.
The initiative will also support awareness and outreach activities for school students to highlight the incredible possibilities aviation can offer them, to be led by the Civil Aviation Academy of Australasia.
ThinkPlace Australia is the fourth of the successful suppliers, selected to design and pilot behavioural interventions in the industry using nudge theory to influence cultural change.
The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is ‘Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress’. These projects will do just that.
I look forward to seeing these programs come to life, to make a real difference for girls and women in aviation.
The Government will support these vital activities with $1.3 million in funding, with a further $2.9 million still available under the initiative until 30 June 2026.
This builds on the momentum achieved by the release of the Women in the Aviation Industry Initiative Strategic Action Plan in September 2023, and builds on the Working for Women: A strategy for Gender Equality focus on addressing industry gender segregation.
