The Glass Ceiling & the Sticky Floor in the Indian Aviation Industry
Author: Lynn Frederick Dsouza
Email: lynn.dsouza@espiridi.com
Increasing inclusion in the workforce empowers both employees and companies. Aviation is undergoing a transformation for the better with an increase in women CEOs from the previous 3% to now almost 9%. Furthermore, there are many more women in white-collar roles than before owing to the commitment to the #25by2025 initiative by IATA. More than 59 airlines worldwide have voluntarily committed to this initiative to deliver a better impact through gender representation in the aviation industry. Women have been working hard for ages even void of recognition despite having to be resilient and put up with stress and pressure which their male counterparts do not usually encounter, especially in engineering and senior white collar and boardroom positions. Misogyny has taken shape in multiple forms such as male privilege, patriarchy, gender discrimination, sexual harassment, belittling of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification.
The Indian aviation industry is ripe for this inclusive transformation as well. Over centuries, women have been suppressed, their human rights were neglected, they were treated as a lower part of society, and their roles were restricted to household chores and giving birth. Prolonged oppression raised many voices and collectively led to a concept of feminism, which started the longest movement in history, including the #MeToo movement, which still continues. Women are often left with no choice but to prove themselves as capable as men in the field, as, if a woman failed, it led to a gender stereotype for all women. Biases toward women’s traditional roles with men in the boardroom and women serving beverages and blankets have become ingrained forcing women who want to enter the boardroom to struggle with the attitudes of both co-workers and society.
This also partly boils down to biases and the exclusion of women from education in the aviation field in India. This improvement is critical, as it signifies that women have the access to education and training programs in the aviation field more than ever before. Women should be able to access the needed aviation training just like their male counterparts. More scholarships, incentives, and grants should be provided for education to women for senior management and C-suite roles in Aviation. Eliminating this barrier thus eliminates the bias of women being incapable of handling particular job profiles and not being capable of working in certain capacities. While a handful of women have overcome such prejudice and made their way into the Indian aviation sector in recent years, aeronautical careers remain largely devoid of women, especially at the top. Women ought to have the same opportunities as men, given the abundance of skills and expertise. The gender pay gap in India is among the widest in the world, with women on average earning 21% of the income of men, possibly due to a lack of female role models in the Indian aviation boardrooms, where the status quo still prevails. The average male aircraft maintenance engineer’s salary is 7% more than a female’s in India. Strong wage policies are key to promoting inclusive growth in the Indian aviation industry.
Women executive directors (EDs) earn 45% less than their male counterparts. Male CEOs and CXOs take home bigger salary increments. Salaries of women EDs remained near stagnant. Coming to retention, women were considered more dispensable than men, especially during the pandemic, in most Indian airlines. As one climbs the corporate ladder, particularly as one reaches the middle-management level, there is an unfavorable bias against women in promotion in the Indian aviation industry. There is a natural selection of more men because the people deciding are also mostly men. The pay parity problem starts at that stage. The data reveals the under-representation of women in leadership and corner rooms, where 90% of EDs are male. Male directors in the majority of the cases have a longer tenure as promotions kick in earlier and faster, said experts. If there is a male director, the number of years in the director position will be much higher than a woman CEO or CXO and this also leads to higher payouts to men.
Also, reaching financial goals hold different priorities for males vs females, due to the poor economic education of women as compared to men. Their environment as well plays a major role in India. The organization should step in and provide a support system for women in the Indian Aviation Industry with flexible policies and reforms for women to continue work and to prevent women from missing out on increments due to reasons like maternity or childcare. Stronger implementation of minimum wage laws and boosting frameworks for collective bargaining is a dire need of the hour to improve sustainable impact in the Indian aviation industry.
It has also been highlighted that the lack of sufficient and timely data also acts as a hindrance, pointing out that the data analysis and the decisions of Indian policymakers were dependent on insufficient and old data. State-specific and comparative studies on wages are needed, urging collaborative research between government agencies, academic institutions, and expert organizations in the Indian aviation industry.
Attitudes, stereotypes, and prejudices are embedded in culture and have played a significant role in inequality in the aviation industry. It, therefore, is important that men are educated on the impact of these attitudes and prejudices against women. They have to be educated on how their behavior affects women and why it is important to evolve the culture in the Indian aviation industry.
In order for any initiative to be effective, long-term strategies advocating change, are needed. Every decision within this arena has implications from a resourcing, time and cost perspective; these considerations must be weighed up against the goals to be achieved and the energy and motivation for change. Offering pathways to ensure women are able to improve their career prospects while helping industry and organizations meet business goals is achievable. This will help lower risk and improve organizational performance, enable leadership groups to make smarter, more informed decisions; ensure customers are better understood; make sure employees are less cynical and more engaged; and help organizations gain a competitive advantage.
Most significantly, the issue of gender equity is a conversation that must take place between men so that men can be part of the change or, in some cases, lead the change! The issue needs to be led by the organizational CEO and supported by the leadership team. Hopefully, the #BreaktheBias initiative helps increase the number of women appointed to strategy and governance roles in the Indian aviation industry in the near future.
For more information please contact: Lynn Frederick Dsouza, Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: National Aviation Council, Email: lynn.dsouza@espiridi.com or visit wicci.in
