Thales supports Amy Johnson diversity debate

Marion Broughton, Vice President Land and Air Systems UK, will be one of the panellists for the ‘2014 Amy Johnson Debate: What Would Amy Think?’.

Amy Johnson CBE was a pioneering English aviator who became the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia in 1930 and broke a string of aviation records. This annual event was set up in her honour and aims to discuss what would Amy think of the progress the aviation industry has made with the issue of diversity.

The event is being held at the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Women in Aviation and Aerospace Committee (WAAC) at the air show and brings together a panel of senior figures working in aviation, with a particular focus on the role of women and the challenges they face developing their career.

Supporting women across our industries

Thales is a strong supporter of the issue of diversity and women in engineering and supports a number of related organisations, including Women in Science and Engineering (WISE).

Earlier this year, Lillian Knight - a Basingstoke-based Land and Air Systems engineer - met the Princess Royal at a WISE event at the University of Huddersfield.

Also representing Thales was Brittany Perkins, a transport software engineer and Katie Laidler, an IT engineer.

WISE, of which The Princess Royal is a patron, was founded 30 years ago and has a mission to improve gender balance in the UK’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce.

Speaking at the time, Lillian said:

Talking with other female engineers was a brilliant opportunity to network and find out their stories. It really did drive home the message that in order to encourage others to follow, you have to go out there and let them know about the great jobs that are available for women in engineering and science."

In March, Thales employees Kelly Phillips, Miriam Yates and Sasha Chambers got involved in raising the profile of the diversity issue by attending a seminar in London called 'Raising our sights for women in STEM' hosted by Labour MP Meg Munn in the lead up to International Women's Day.