7 nov 2024

Changing the face of defence, together

Employee meeting. Amy Bellingham in photo.

We’re proud to be a Woman in Defence UK Pankhurst Partner and sponsor of the Critical Mass Summit 2024. As a signatory to the Women in Defence Charter, we’re committed to improving gender balance, driving inclusion and diversity, and providing fair opportunities for women to succeed.

This year’s Women in Defence UK Insights and Data Report 2024 highlights the importance of having diverse voices to reduce the risk of group think and how flexibility is key for retention. It’s a valuable resource for all industry partners who are looking forward, strategically adapting, and taking action to retain the brilliant women working in the sector and make defence better for everyone.

Ruth Cairnie, Babcock Chair and Industry Patron of the Women in Defence UK Charter said: “Diverse voices and diverse perspectives are critical for better decision making. Inclusion means a culture where people are really valued everywhere, listened to and therefore they can contribute. There must be an absolute commitment that this is important. It’s not about box ticking, it’s critical to the success of businesses in the sector.”

Driven by our Purpose to create a safe and secure world, together – we’re creating more equitable, diverse, and inclusive working environments where everyone can fulfil their potential. Here are a few of our achievements so far:

• Representation: Currently, women constitute 19% of our total workforce, 40% at the Board level and 23% at the senior management level.
• Gender pay gap: In 2024, this reduced from 9.6% to 6.7% – well below the UK average of 14.3%.
• Gender equity: We launched our Inclusive Leave policy that includes provisions for shared parental leave.
• Flexible working: Our agile working approach offers more choice and autonomy about how, when and where we do our best work while balancing the needs of our customers.
• Gender balance: We have a dedicated employee network that provides opportunities for collaboration, continuous improvement and peer support. Last year we launched the Menopause Peer Support Group so people can connect with each other, share their experience and access further information and resources.
• Mentoring: We launched our ‘Mentor Match’ scheme and ‘Illuminate’ pilot initiative to provide opportunities for growth, connection and empowerment for women in Babcock.
• Inclusion: Watch our People film to hear what our people say about working for us.  

We’re pleased with our progress but recognise there’s more to be done. We remain steadfast in our commitment to achieve at least 30% female representation at all levels by 2030 and improve gender balance by attracting and retaining more women in the sector.

Together, we will change the face of defence.