Push for more young women to join aviation sector

As Singapore’s aviation industry continues to grow in tandem with rising demand for air travel, a bigger push is being made to attract more young women to careers in aviation.

To that end, a pact was signed on Oct 10 between the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and the Singapore chapter of Women in Aviation (WAI-SG).

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) aims to promote aviation-related experiential activities for young women and expose them to the diverse career opportunities in the sector.

As part of the pact, more will also be done to encourage young women interested in Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to apply these skills to aviation.

CAAS and WAI-SG will also collaborate to help young women build strong networks and professional relationships in the aviation sector.

At a dinner where the MOU was signed on Oct 10 at Orchard Hotel, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said the partnership was timely, as the aviation sector needs to hire more talent to power its growth.

“We want the younger generation to continue seeing aviation as an exciting sector, and ensure that our next generation of aviation enthusiasts are equipped with the necessary skills,” he said, adding that the aviation workforce is a critical factor to the industry’s success.

CAAS and WAI-SG said the pact will “promote aviation as a career for girls and young women and to develop the next generation of female aviation leaders”.

The MOU was signed by CAAS director-general Han Kok Juan and Ms Lou-Ann Seet, president of WAI-SG.

Speaking to The Straits Times, Ms Seet said it was important for young women to “see what kind of roles there are in aviation beyond the regular pilots, flight attendants, engineers”.

Her mother was a flight attendant with Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific, and Ms Seet grew up wanting to be a pilot. She now flies the Cessna 172 as a hobby when she visits the US.

She said it is important for young women to see representation in the industry.

WAI-SG holds aviation-focused career fairs and has an established mentorship programme, with mentors from aviation companies such as Boeing.

In a speech at the dinner, Ms Seet, who is the Asia-Pacific partner sales and growth leader at flight tracking data company FlightAware, said WAI-SG has paired over 75 women with seasoned aviation executives through its mentorship programme.

The non-profit organisation aims to reach more than 2,000 women through its programmes in the next five years, she added.

One of these is an annual Girls in Aviation Day for girls as young as eight years old. The 2024 edition is being held on Oct 19 at Temasek Polytechnic.

This programme shows young girls the wide variety of roles in aviation, “reinforcing that a career in this field is not just a dream but a tangible reality”, Ms Seet said.

WAI-SG is also planning a Gen Z Career in Aviation Day, targeting young people between 18 and 28 years old, in January 2025.

Ms Michelle Low, principal for global regulatory and International Civil Aviation Organisation strategy at Boeing, said that as a young woman, she needed to “work a little harder to get the validation and the acceptance by male peers”.

She recalled an incident where she was attending an international meeting and was mistaken for a secretary and told that she could not have a seat at the table. “Even till today, sometimes I still do get that stereotype, that misunderstanding,” she added.

She said she wished for more female mentorship when she was younger. She is one of the founding members of WAI-SG’s mentorship programme.

Ms Anna Patsy Ong, who leads the mentorship committee at WAI-SG, was a commercial pilot for 16 years, including as a captain on the Airbus A320 and A330 jets.

Now a flight operations inspector at CAAS, she said she pursued a pilot’s licence privately as she could not get into a cadet school because of her gender.

She recalled filling in an application form that “didn’t even ask you for your gender”, and pointed out that two decades ago, “certain training facilities didn’t even have bathrooms for females”.

She said the MOU is important, as having more women in the industry will “help more young women to maybe consider, take a second look, and perhaps... step into the industry” just like her.

“To succeed, first you need opportunity. And I’d love for young women in Singapore to understand we have so many opportunities around. We just need to grab them,” she said.