Dubai: On the upcoming celebration of International Women’s Day this week, Emirates has turned the spotlight on its female staff.
The UAE-based carrier released a footage on Monday for a brief behind-the-scenes look at two Arab women piloting the world’s largest passenger aircraft.
Shown operating the cockpit are Emirati national Alia Al Muhairi, the UAE’s youngest female Airbus A380 pilot and Nevin Darwish from Egypt, the first Arab female pilot to have captained an A380 plane.
The two women have just flewn the aircraft from Dubai to Vienna. They are part of the airline’s cockpit crew that come from 24 nationalities. Emirates' female crew members are aged between 20 and 59 years, including pilot cadets.
Emirates has more than 29,000 women from more than 150 countries on its payroll. More than 18,000 of them work as cabin crew, while the rest are represented across technical, as well as in professional leadership roles.
About 2.5 per cent of the female workforce hold managerial positions. Women are also increasingly climbing the career ladder, taking on roles that were more traditionally represented by men.
According to the airline, the number of women in its workforce has increased in line with the growth of the company, with the proportion of female employees rising by six per cent during the past decade.
However, while many organisations have made huge strides toward gender equality, women still lag behind men in the labour force globally.
According to the data released by United Nations, only 50 per cent of working age women are employed, compared to 76 per cent of men. Most women are also found in the informal economy and holding lower-paid, lower-skill jobs with little or no social protection.
