ADDIS ABABA-The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) made a call to regional aviation actors to mainstream gender equality in their tasks.
COMESA conducted a workshop on gender equality and available career opportunities for women in the aviation sector yesterday.
Approached by Ethiopian Press Agency, COMESA Gender and Social Affairs Director General Hamusonde Beatrice Simwapenga said that women are predominantly engaged in the aviation industry as hostesses and in other mid and junior-level careers, but are not represented well in higher positions.
Despite some progress, women are not well represented in higher positions in the aviation sector. Gender is a serious agenda in all sectors and aviation is also one of the areas that COMESA needs to see gender equality, the director general emphasized.
“We need to promote women to have equal share in the aviation industry. Of course, we are seeing developments and women are being pilots and co-pilots. For example, the Ethiopian Airlines has female pilots which are exemplary to other carriers.”
“The aviation sector has various career opportunities. So, women can aspire to be pilots, engineers,” she added.
COMESA has initiatives to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment and it has a platform to discuss the agenda with high-level governmental entities and aviation sector stakeholders.
The Ministry of Women and Social Affairs Women’s Empowerment Chief Executive Officer Ashenafi Feyissa also stressed that gender parity in the aviation industry requires consolidated efforts of penitent actors.
The call to action underscores the necessity of creating more opportunity for women across all areas of the industry, from piloting and engineering to leadership and decision-making roles. Women empowerment in the aviation sector is not just a matter of equity; it is also about harnessing the full potential of human resources to drive innovation and excellence, Ashenafi remarked.
BY YESUF ENDRIS
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 19 JUNE 2024
