The commission meeting took place at the Pegasus Airlines Training Hall on December 18th, 2018 and was held under the chairmanship of Can EREL, the Deputy Director General of Civil Aviation and Chairman of the Gender Balance Fostering Commission (TCDGK).

In the morning session, the action plan for 2018 was updated and evaluated, the activities for the TOBB Turkey Civil Aviation Council and TCDGK 2019 activities were evaluated and the proposal for press sponsorship of TCDGK activities were completed. In the afternoon session, the TCDGK consultation meeting, evaluation of the action plan, evaluation and approval of the first airwoman registration application and evaluation of issues from the TCDGK and advisory board members were completed.

The morning session opened with remarks of Deputy Director General of Civil Aviation Can EREL. It was stated that the activities of the sub–study group were to be continued, and that the identification of the number of female and male workers in accordance with their positions and professions in the industry will be made and the existing data will be updated and presented at a symposium which is to be held in March. During the meeting, it was declared that out of 51 survey studies conducted within the scope of the post – graduate thesis and doctoral dissertations based on genders, only in 3 of the studies, the number of women participants were higher than the number of men and it was underlined that the number of women in the industry fell shorter than expected. To this end, the necessity of examining the distribution and improvement of female and male students that are going through training to take part in the future of aviation came up on the agenda.  Through discussion, issues regarding training and internship were examined to explore how to increase the employment of women in the industry. Amongst the issues in the agenda of the commission as well were the identification of the areas in which joint studies can be conducted by the schools and aviation associations in order to familiarizing students with aviation. Preparation of posters to attract young people in particular, dramatization of the stories of the leading figures in Turkish aviation, organization of cartoons and painting contests were also on the to do list.  

The establishment of an NGO within this formation designed to eliminate the problems of resources was raised in the meeting, along with the and the reduction of the government’s share in this study. An emphasis was made during the meeting that financial support as well as intellectual and power support would increase awareness in this field and that cooperation to be made in this field would support such studies.

Chairman of the Commission Can EREL also shared information about the organization with the theme of “Women in Airport” which will be held under the coordination of the IGA for the March 8th Women in Aviation Week, within the scope of the activities of 2019. The aforesaid symposium was proposed to be held on March 7th within the frame of this particular week.

In the session after lunch, the TCDGK consultation meeting was held and the first airwomen’s registry applications were evaluated. Also, on behalf of Pegasus Airlines which hosted the meeting, Güliz ÖZTÜRK shared brief information with the commission about the company and her views on women’s employment within the scope of gender balance fostering. ÖZTÜRK also emphasized in her speech that Pegasus Airlines would continue to contribute to gender balance fostering. In the last part of the meeting, members of the commission submitted their suggestions to the commission for future studies.

Ayşe EVERS, Editor-in-Chief of Defence Turkey Magazine, participated in the meeting as a press sponsor and also provided information to the members of the commission about the support the magazine could give to this event.