Women and aviation: Quality jobs, attraction and retention

Progress for women in the world of work has been slow in a number of sectors, including in civil aviation, where there are clear gender gaps in a range of occupations. The rapid expansion of the sector provides an opportunity for a transformative and proactive agenda for gender equality. Yet, a series of challenges need to be addressed if the future of women in civil aviation is not to simply replicate the discriminatory patterns of the past. This working paper is a first step towards exploring some of these challenges and identifies opportunities for the future of decent and sustainable work in the aviation industry. 

The paper is the result of an unprecedented combination of industry and worker inputs, and it has benefitted from information and data provided by the International Civil Aviation Organization. Governments, workers, employers and international organizations all have an important role to play in establishing, promoting and implementing policy choices that advance gender equality. These choices will depend on changing contexts, as gender equality is a constantly moving target. 

*This paper was originally published in English in 2020. It has been republished in 2024, also in French and Spanish.