Flybe / November 2018

81 / 116

Flybe’s World
F
This year marks the 25th anniversary of
the Bobby Moore Fund. On February
24th 1993, World Cup-winning England
captain Bobby Moore sadly died of
bowel cancer. The England and West
Ham legend survived for 20 months
after his diagnosis and was just 51
when he died. That same year, Bobby’s
widow Stephanie Moore MBE set up
the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer
Research UK to fund world-class
research and awareness projects to
tackle bowel cancer.
In the UK, bowel cancer is the fourth
most common cancer and the second
most common cause of cancer death.
Since the fund was set up in 1993, bowel
cancer mortality rates have fallen 30
per cent and survival has doubled in
the last 40 years. However, we can’t
stop there. Bowel cancer still kills 44
people in the UK every day, which is
equivalent to four football teams.
Thanks to the work of the Bobby
Moore Fund, some incredible
breakthroughs have been achieved in
bowel cancer research. For instance,
researchers helped develop a one-
off bowel scope screening test that
reduces the risk of developing bowel
cancer by more than one third.
Stephanie Moore said: “For the
past 25 years, the Bobby Moore Fund
has made beating bowel cancer and
raising awareness of the disease our
goal. I’m very proud of what we’ve
achieved so far, and the generosity of
our supporters has been incredible.
“However, more still needs to be
done and by continuing to increase
awareness and funding, it’s my hope
that together we will beat bowel
cancer.”
Donate today and together, we will
beat bowel cancer sooner.
NOVEMBER 2018 / Flight Time / 81
“I firmly believe that young women
cannot be what they cannot see”…
So said CEO Christine Ourmières-
Widener when she recently launched
FlyShe, a programme aimed at
inspiring the next generation of young
women to consider a wider variety
of high-trust career options when
they grow up, such as becoming a
pilot, engineer or a member of senior
management.
With the airline industry forecast to
double in size by 2035, it is predicted
that the sector needs 637,000 new
pilots to meet global demand.
Therefore, attracting talent from the 51
per cent of the population that is not
currently applying for these roles is an
urgent commercial necessity.
FlyShe is designed to highlight and
help address this huge talent shortage
by inspiring young girls and women
to consider roles that are traditionally
male-associated.
Independent research recently
conducted on our behalf, comprising
1,778 parents and 1,778 children aged
between 6 -17, revealed a gender bias
in the roles to which children currently
aspire. Girls are half as likely as boys
to aspire to become an aviation
engineer and four times less likely than
boys to want to be a pilot.
“Aviation is still very much a male-
dominated industry. There are many
reasons for this gender imbalance,
but the main one is that the pipeline
of female talent in engineering and
piloting is simply not there,” explains
Christine, who started her own working
life as an engineer in an airline
maintenance department, and is the
UK’s only female airline CEO and one
of only a few in the world. She is also
the first of only two women appointed
to the governing body of the influential
International Air Transport Association
(IATA).
In addition to launching our
new online hub, we
will continue to roll out a number
of regional initiatives as part of the
expanded programme. For example, it
will be brought to life in schools across
the country, with female pilots and
engineers engaging with pupils face
to face in the classroom. In addition,
we will also produce educational
materials for schools to host their own
sessions, encouraging girls to consider
high-trust roles as their future careers.
This year, we also offered two
young women places on our new
engineering apprenticeship scheme
which, as part of the 15 opportunities
available each year, will continue
to encourage women to embark on
careers in this crucial sector.
Christine concludes: “Forty-one
per cent of Flybe’s workforce is now
female, with women in every role from
apprenticeship to the boardroom.
While the majority still comprises cabin
crew, there are increasing numbers
across all other areas of the business,
including pilots and engineers.
“We cannot ignore the fact that the
research indicated nearly one in five
girls believe there are jobs they cannot
do and I firmly believe that young
women cannot be what they cannot
see. Through FlyShe, we are committed
to showing women they can fly high –
whatever they want to do.”
REMEMBERING
BOBBY
25 YEARS OF THE BOBBY
MOORE FUND
Showing women they can fly high
FLYSHE PROGRAMME LAUNCHED FOLLOWING GENDER
DIVERSIT Y FINDINGS