But that month signalled a significant milestone in the advancement of women’s rights – albeit 77 years after Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragette movement secured the right to vote in Great Britain and Ireland – with publication of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Designed to pave the way for “a just and equal future for all women and girls” the Platform focuses on 12 ‘critical areas of concern’ including jobs and the economy, political participation, peace, the environment and ending violence against women.
We have witnessed real progress for women and girls in many areas during this period, though there is still much work to meet the Declaration’s original objective.
A trailblazing path
One person to have experienced changing attitudes to women during the past three decades is Air Commodore Emily Flynn CBE, who began her career with the Royal Air Force in 2000. She spoke to Leonardo employees ahead of International Women’s Day 2025 as part of the company marking Women’s History Month
Following in the footsteps of her mother – the only female engineer officer in the RAF at the time, who she describes as “a trailblazer for all of us” – Air Commodore Flynn experienced heartache early in her career when her dream of being a pilot was shattered – not because of her gender, but because a biometrics test indicated her arms were 5mm too short.
With resilience developed throughout her formative years as a “forces child” – moving locations according to her parents’ military commitments – Air Commodore Flynn reset her sights on becoming an engineer.
Talking to an audience from our sites across the UK, Air Commodore Flynn walked the audience of over 250 Leonardo employees through her career, sharing experiences of how she applied her resilience and leadership in testing scenarios, including facing a potential crisis relating to a major computer virus whilst commanding a squadron at RAF Coningsby.
Air Commodore Flynn was Station Commander at RAF Brize Norton from 2020-2022, during which time the station played a key part in Operation PITTING, coordinating the evacuation and delivery of 15,000 people from Kabul following the collapse of the Afghan government.
Recalling the largest operation of its kind since the Berlin airlift, she said: “It’s easy to look good when things go right, but making things go right takes a hell of a lot of work. That first night, we were not prepared to handle an aircraft and passengers, and enrol them through border checks. We were also unprepared for the level of suffering we faced and how little the refugees had with them.
“We quickly regrouped to plan for the days ahead, stepping back and thinking about what we actually needed help with. Our headquarters offered us more people, but I didn’t need more military types; I needed experts who knew how to deal with refugees, so we engaged the Red Cross. Some evacuees needed urgent hospital treatment, so the Ambulance Service was on hand to back up our own medics.
“The local community was desperate to help, so we asked for donations. We got 200 prams and piles of clothes, while the local supermarkets gave us food to distribute. It was absolutely phenomenal! People are amazing and they will definitely humble you.
“I’ve never been so tired, after two weeks with virtually no sleep. But Operation PITTING was the most profound, proud and spectacular two weeks of my career. It was the most satisfied I’d felt in my whole career.”
Lessons in leadership
Citing various scenarios in which her leadership skills have been pushed to their limits during her career, Air Commodore Flynn highlighted that “you really prove your worth as a leader when things go wrong. It’s not much fun, especially when it’s beyond your control. But when it all goes right, it is incredibly satisfying.”
Away from her day-to-day role, the Air Commodore indulges in her passion for mountaineering as a member of the RAF Mountain Rescue Service – an environment where military rank means little, since experience as a mountaineer takes precedent. Often the most junior people (by rank) are leading very senior people.
“It absolutely terrifies me and humbles me, but it’s developed me as a human being. Hyperventilating, going shaky and crying are not going to help get off the mountain, and learning to rationalise myself and deal with that fear is something I’ve found really hard. But it has made me a better leader. It’s made me so aware of myself and reminded me that things I might find easy other people find difficult, and therefore knowing how to help people who are finding something difficult is partly driven by my own lessons of being terrified on a mountain!”
Real role models
Thinking back to the time when her mother joined the RAF, Air Commodore Flynn says her mother “joined a man’s world” and faced a series of extremely testing times both when applying for roles in the military and in industry.
“So many people say to me ‘your mum’s amazing’. I’m a bit biased, but I think she’s pretty great. Having a mum as an engineer…I’d never really thought of it like that. She’s just my mum, and the point, therefore, is that she’s real to me.
“For me, role models are real. We’re all role models, so the question we should ask ourselves is ‘what are we role modelling?’. If we are normal and real, maybe the next generation will see what we do is achievable, so they can do it too.
“That’s the way I want to be viewed; not for people to look at me and say ‘she’s amazing, but for them to look at me and think ‘I could do that too’.”
Helen Allen, Chair of Equalise, Leonardo’s gender balance employee network, helped organise the webinar. Reflecting on the experiences and lessons Air Commodore Flynn shared, she said: “We need the trailblazers! We need truthtellers too. And Air Commodore Flynn was absolutely both of these, delivering an inspirational session that showed us the importance of self-belief and what leadership really means.
“It’s more important than ever to mark IWD; to show solidarity with the generations of women before us and to inspire those to come. I’m very proud of what we've achieved so far and what we continue to do, raising visibility of opportunities to empower our women, and to support Leonardo’s drive for gender equity across our workforce.”
Click on the links below to learn more about the work Leonardo is doing to support gender equity: