Friday, November 20, 2015

India chapter of Women in Aviation launches in New Delhi

New Delhi:  In 1998 India released a stamp to celebrate woman in aviation, an important recognition for this ofttimes invisible force. Today, there is a storm of motivation brewing to do more to educate, train and recognize women in aviation, as this journalist recently learned in the green environs of the Dusit Devarana Hotel on the outskirts of New Delhi. There, a group of women has launched the India chapter of Women in Aviation, International (WAI).

CJ Collins, who serves as the FAA senior representative in New Delhi covering South Asia, is the brainchild behind WAI’s launch in India. “I was at a WAI event and what hit me was India’s neighbor UAE had a chapter. Why not here?” A couple of chance meetings with Radha Bhatia, chairperson at Indian travel and technology services provider Bird Group, “where we were two lone women” in an all-male crowd, led to their mutual resolve to launch WAI’s 147th Chapter on 22 October.

Now serving as WAI India mentor, Collins declares, “We can’t concentrate on 50% [of the] population being left out of skill development.” Bhatia wholeheartedly agrees. The industry has changed radically since 42 years ago “when you found women only at counters and never in sales”, she says. But much more work can and should be done.

The careers of the founding members, pictured above, represent a diverse mix of professions related to aviation, be they pilots and cabin crew, a regulator, journalist, lawyer, activist and ground handler.

A common experience among the younger generation in this mix is that they have had to battle against the dissent of family members to get where they are at.
19/11/15 Neelam Mathews/RunwaygirlNetwork
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