Sudipta Dev – Mumbai
Women in Aviation, International (WAI) is a non-profit organisation that promotes women in the sector by providing them networking, scholarship and mentoring opportunities. The organisation that has 12,000 members worldwide, recently started the India chapter with 15 members. Empowering and skilling of women in the industry being a primary focus, many initiatives are lined up by WAI India chapter. “India has never done a study of the number of women in the aviation industry here. Now we are doing a study on this. There are many segments in the industry – apart from women pilots, stewards/ attendants there are so many other areas where women are not to be seen, for instance law, marketing, trainers, cargo, etc,” said Radha Bhatia, chairperson, Bird Group who has been the driving force for starting the India chapter, which happens to be the very first in South Asia region.
WAI India chapter aims to bring a big change in the working conditions and idealogy. “We have to spread awareness about what are the job opportunities. The training in aviation is also very fragmented. We would like to go to various colleges, talk to students about opportunities in the aviation sector and encourage young people to join the industry,” stated Bhatia. They want to engage the airlines and other companies in the sector with support from the media. “For airlines trained manpower is always a big challenge, so I am sure they will support the initiative,” added Bhatia.
The membership is open to everyone. The registration fee is US$ 55. Acknowledging that everybody may not be able to pay US$ 55, Bhatia is looking at a realistic membership target of 50 in the first year. Along with the opportunity to get a global platform there are many benefits for members including free scholarships.
WAI India chapter currently has members in Delhi and Chennai and is looking at opening centre representation in different regions. “We will be meeting every month. We are also planning two big events, one will be on International Women’s Day,” mentioned Bhatia.
The India chapter was inaugurated in presence of Richard R. Verma, US Ambassador to India and Rajiv Nayan Choubey, secretary, ministry of civil aviation.