Women in Defence Charter

Scientific Management International is proud to be a signatory to the Women in Defence Charter.

The Women in Defence Charter was launched in recognition that more needs to be done to improve gender balance in the defence enterprise. Signatories commit to enabling women to thrive, enhancing the individual and collective impact of women across defence and in doing so, improving the overall output of the sector.

It is well documented that a balanced workforce is good for business, customers and consumers, profitability and workplace culture – so the Women in Defence Charter brings together organisations from across the UK’s defence sector to achieve that goal.

By being a signatory we commit to:

• Nominating a member of the Board to be responsible for gender diversity and inclusion
• Setting internal targets for gender diversity in senior management
• Publishing progress annually against any targets
• Having an intention to ensure that the objectives of senior managers are based on the delivery of targets for gender inclusion and diversity

Our target is to reach a minimum of 30% female representation at all levels within SMI Ltd by 2030.

Our progress and where we stand today:

We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and supportive workplace. In line with our commitment to the Women in Defence Charter and our ongoing monitoring of progress against the targets we have set, we have made significant strides over the past six years.

We are proud to have exceeded our target of 30% female representation across the organisation, including at Board and Director level, as well as within non-management positions.

While we have made strong progress and are close to achieving our target for Management and Senior-level positions, this will remain a key area of focus. We will also continue to work towards increasing female representation within supervisory roles across the organisation.

We will continue to promote fair and inclusive recruitment, development and progression opportunities, alongside targeted support and development initiatives. All with the aim of helping remove barriers, and encourage more women to join and progress within our SMI team. Examples include part time, flexible and hybrid working opportunities, flexible support and development initiatives – all underpinned by empathetic leadership to understand and help remove any barriers faced.

If you have any questions, please get in touch.