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Improving gender balance in defence

About the Charter

The Women in Defence Charter was launched to improve gender balance in the defence enterprise, both public sector and private sector.

It is a pledge to work together to build a more balanced enterprise. Signatories are committing to be the very best at driving inclusion and diversity within their organisations and providing opportunities for women to succeed at all levels.

Currently the sector breakdown of women in roles is:

23.6%

Proportion of UK Defence Sector Jobs Held by Women

Changing the Face of Defence Report 2025


12.7%

Proportion of Women in the UK Armed Forces

Changing the Face of Defence Report 2025

43.7%

Proportion of Women in the MOD Civil Service

Changing the Face of Defence Report 2025


27.9%

Proportion of Women in the UK Defence Industry

Changing the Face of Defence Report 2025

Our ambition is to achieve 30% female representation at all levels across the defence enterprise by 2030.

The Commitments

When an organisation signs the Charter, they pledge to deliver 
five commitments.

Senior Executive

They commit to having an empowered member of the senior executive team who is responsible for signing the Charter

Internal targets

They commit to setting internal targets, where appropriate, for gender diversity in all levels of the organisation and in all functional areas

Publish annually

They commit to providing data annually to the Women in Defence UK Charter for anonymised use in the Women in Defence UK Charter Annual Report

Link pay or objectives to diversity

They commit to having an intention to ensure the pay or the objectives of a senior executive are linked to delivery of any internal targets on gender inclusion and diversity

Progression at Every Level

They commit to supporting the progression of women into senior roles in the defence sector by focusing on the executive pipeline and the mid and lower-tier levels across the full spectrum of roles within the organisation

The signatories

AACE

Accenture

ADS

Airbus

AirTanker

Allan Webb Ltd

Amentum

Aquila

Armed forces covenant

Arondite

Ascent Flight Training

Atkins

Atlas elektronic UK

ATOS

AWE

Babcock

BAE Systems

BaxterStorey

BMT

Boeing UK

Boyden

Brigantes Consulting Ltd

British Army

BT

Capgemini

Capita

Cervus Defence Ltd

Chemring

Civil Service (not agencies)

CJ Cairns Associates

CMS Strategic

Cohort PLC

Costain

Cranfield University

CSOC

CTS Logistics

D Group

Dassault Systèmes

DE&S

Defence Media

DSTL

Empyrea Consulting

Envitia

FAUN Trackway Limited

Forces Employment Charity

Frank Shaw Associates

Frielle

Fujitsu

GE Vernova

General Dynamics

Geometric Manufacturing Ltd

GKN Aerospace

Harquebus

Helsing Limited

Hydro Group Ltd

i3Works

IBM Consulting

IDE Systems

Impellam

Improbable

KBR

KBS Maritime

L3 Harris

Leidos

Leonardo

Lockett Solutions

Lockheed Martin UK

Mace

Made Tech Ltd

Manpower Group

Marshall Aerospace and Defence

Matchtech

MBDA UK

MGNG UK

Mind Foundry Ltd

Mott MacDonald

MRL Public Sector Consultants

Ncounter

Northrop Grumman

OBC RDSC

Occam Group

Orbis

Oxley Group

PA Consulting

Pearson Engineering

Plexal

Ploughshare Innovations Ltd

PwC

QA

QinetiQ

Raytheon UK

Red Scientific

RDUK Rheinmetall UK

Renaissance Strategic Advisors

Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land

RINA Tech UK Ltd

RMMV UK Rheinmetall MAN Military Vechiles UK

Rolls Royce

Rowden Tech

Royal AirForce

Royal Navy

SAAB UK

Safeguard Engineering

Safran

Scan Associates

Scientific Management International Ltd

Scott Aerospace

SensusQ Limited

Serco

Sharing Growth

Sirius Analysis

Skyral

Space Command

SQEP

Squarcle

Stellar Solutions

Submarine Delivery Agency

SYOS

Thales UK

TMD Technologies

Turner & Townsend

TWI Ltd

UKDSC

Ultra

Unify HQ Ltd

Vivo

Verzon Engineering

Vysiion

Walker Precision Engineering

WEAF

Whitetree

WSP