In Two Years Iberia Doubles Number of Women in Executive Positions

• To mark International Women’s Day Iberia scheduled a flight with all-female cockpit and cabin crews, and served exclusively by female ground staff in the airport and on the apron.
• Under its Diversity and Inclusion Plan. the airline is implementing internal and external initiatives to promote women at all levels and in all departments and job categories.

On International Women’s Day Span’s Iberia Airlines is showing its commitment to the promotion and empowerment of women in the workplace through numerous initiatives.

To illustrate the progress already made, on 5 March the airline operated a Madrid-Brussels flight with all-female cockpit and cabin crews. The ground staff coordinating and preparing the flight was also exclusively female, including baggage handlers. In all, 20 women were involved.

Iberia’s Commitment to Diversity

Under the airline’s Diversity and Inclusion Plan, lunched in 2018, measure were introduced to combat overt and unconscious discrimination against women, and to reap the benefits of a more diverse workforce. It commissioned an outside firm to assess payroll structures, and found that there is no wage gap between male and female Iberia employees.

Thanks to the plan, the number of women holding executive positions at the airline has doubled in the past two years, and the proportion rose from 13% in 2017 to 27% in 2019.

The Plan called for new professional development programmes for female employees, and for recruitment procedures that ensure gender equity in the selection process.

More Women in Technical Jobs

Women now account for 38% of Iberia’s total staff and for 49% of technical managers. They also constitute a majority of aircraft cabin staff.

However, women are still poorly represented as pilots, flight engineers, and maintenance technicians.

To attract more female recruits to these positions, last year Iberia launched the Quiero ser [”I want to be”] initiative, bringing groups of 16- to 18-year-old female high school students to visit airport installations and meet with senior female employees in a two-day programme.

Iberia is also a sponsor of “Ellas vuelan alto” [“High-Flying Women”]. an association of Spanish professional women who work in the aviation industry.

Female Talent Everywhere

During the month of March, Iberia’s Talentoabordo culture platform is featuring female writers, painters, sculptors, musicians, and film-makers. 

Iberia is also a sponsor of this year’s Festival internacional de cine hecho por mujeres [International Festival of Films Made by Women”] opening in Madrid on 15 April, and of the Encuentro de Mujeres que transforman el mundo, [“Meeting of Women Who Are Changing the World”] on 10-29 March in the Spanish city of Segovia.

Iberia will participate in the Santander WomenNOW Summit on 26-27 March, and was a backer of a race held in Madrid on International Women’s Day.