• “EADS commits to offering equal opportunities for all its employees and to refraining from any discrimination against its employees based on gender, race, religion, nationality, political opinion, sexual orientation, social origins, age and handicap with regard to its personnel.
• EADS commits to developing access for women to all of its activities and shall ensure fair professional development as well as equal remuneration for men and women employees for skill and work of equivalent value.”

EADS has always promoted diversity through its existing culture of cross-border collaboration.

EADS principles regarding respecting and promoting diversity are listed in the Group Code of Ethics as well as in the “International Framework Agreement” signed with the European Works Council.

The following examples illustrate the implementation of these principles:

Nationalities

EADS counts more than 15 nationalities among its employees worldwide.

Gender Diversity

The percentage of women employed in 2005 in the Group is about 15%. It increased slightly in 2005 compared to 2004, the increase in the percentage of women was registered in the divisions where the rates were the lowest.

As of 31st December 2005, 12% of EADS executives and senior managers were women.

EADS has committed to a long-term plan for the promotion of women in aerospace and has set two priorities: at least 20% of its annual recruitment will be women, and it will have active communication within universities and schools in order to convince female students through lively role models and concrete examples that the aerospace industry, and more specifically EADS, is an attractive employer for women.

From 1st January 2004, BUs have been asked every quarter to report on their success in recruiting women. The CBA has also defined training objectives to be consistent with the recruitment target.

In 2005, the recruitment of women was 20.5% of total recruitment (18.8% in 2004), and so reached the Group’s target. The Defence & Security Systems and Eurocopter divisions as well as EADS research centre are leading the way in this field.

Since 2004, EADS has been engaged in a partnership with the FEMTEC university career center for women Berlin GmbH in Germany.

Working in cooperation with well-known companies, the aim of this cooperation between FEMTEC and industrial companies is to promote engineering studies among young girls and women, and to help high potential and specialized female students enter the aerospace industry. EADS takes an active part in career advice workshops designed for FEMTEC students as well as in conference days.

In France, EADS sponsored the Irène Joliot-Curie prize for the second time in 2005 (See “Sustaining and Protecting Innovation – Innovation Chapter”).

Furthermore, EADS is an active member of the WIST (Women Initiative in Science and technology), a programme funded by the European Commission and aimed at exploring the partnerships between private and public research, as well as the links between diversity and business performance.

Airbus also agreed on a partnership with the Academy of Toulouse to facilitate contacts between female professionals and students, to provide information to students, teachers and career advisors on technological advances and new skills, and to participate in relevant events.

Other initiatives include, in Germany, the organisation of a “girls’ day” which is an open day for girls at German EADS locations to allow them to find out more about the engineering profession, and in France participation in the “they move” (“Elles bougent”) initiative. Led by major French engineering universities (ENSAM, ESTACA) together with key players from the transportation industry (EADS, PSA, Dassault, SNCF), this project aims at raising young women’s awareness of technical studies, as well as interesting them in complex technologies through regular contacts with female engineers currently working in the member companies, plant visits, conferences

Finally, in keeping with this overall strategy, a meeting with participants of the IIWE (International Institute for Women in Engineering) took place in July 2005 at the EADS Paris headquarters, the EADS ST plant in les Mureaux and at Eurocopter in la Courneuve. 80 young women took part in workshops on diversity and scientific vocations.

EADS was also a strategic partner to the first “Women’s forum for the economy and society”. This forum, which took place in October 2005, was created to promote the vision, influence and impact of women on all the major economic and social issues. It gives women an opportunity to express their views, ideas and solutions. It aims at defining directions for progress in the world of tomorrow.

The implementation in France of the agreement signed with trade unions, which was signed in 2004 (“Accord sur l’égalité et la mixité professionnelle”), is monitored by each EADS company, and also at Group level, using a defined set of common indicators to evaluate results and track progress with an action plan covering the 2004 / 2006 period. This action plan is to be re-negotiated every three years.

Finally, in 2005, EADS France and Airbus, Astrium, Eurocopter, Matra Electronique, and EADS Space Transportation received the “Label Egalité” from the French Ministry of professional equality. This label is awarded to companies that can show a pro-active policy regarding women employment and development.

Age diversity

A group agreement covering EADS entities in France signed with trade union organisations in 2005 aims at banning all career development based on age criteria.

Being concerned with the lengthening of working life, the other European components of the EADS Group are also working on this issue of second half of career development.