Study title

The data sources are a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, from a survey, interviews and focus groups. Survey data was gathered from a sample of female members of the professional body representing the aviation and aerospace industry; interviews and focus groups with a sample of female professionals, employers and female representatives of other professional bodies within and outside the industry. The survey was utilised to determine the level and quality of mentoring that women were receiving (or providing as mentors) throughout the industry, career history and what respondents would look for from an industry-wide mentoring scheme, provided by women, for women. From an initial mail-out to 1700 women, 220 responses were received. Interview data was gathered from a total of thirty female professionals and employers. The interviews focused upon women's under-representation in a male dominated industry, perceptions/experiences of being a female engineer, a brief career background, experiences and benefits gained from mentoring (if any), quality of mentoring received, reasons for not having a mentor and a 'wish list' for the proposed mentoring scheme. The 'wish list' included, what women would look for from the scheme, perceived strengths and weakness of an industry-wide mentoring scheme for women, awareness of and engagement in any current schemes in their own organisations, whether they would like to be involved in an industry-wide mentoring scheme for women and how they would perceive this to operate in practice (i.e. face to face, frequency of meetings, the matching process, etc.) Interviews with employers enabled a more general exploration of the industry and women's under-representation therein, the value of the proposed scheme, how this may or may not sit alongside their own organisations' mentoring schemes (if any) and to explore the key objectives for the scheme. Interviews with representatives of key professional bodies were helpful in...