The head of Qatar Airways apologised Wednesday for saying that a woman could not do his job, while global airlines pledged to speed up efforts to break down gender imbalances in aviation. Qatar Airways CE Akbar Al Baker said his remarks at the closing of a global airlines gathering Tuesday had been intended as a joke and taken out of context. He defended his airline's record of gender diversity, saying 44% of its staff were female including some in senior positions. "Quite frankly I think the press took it out of context. They ... blew it out of proportion. It was just a joke...I apologise for it," Al Baker said. The issue of gender imbalance in aviation was a hot topic at the 3-day annual meeting of IATA - only 6 of whose 280 member airlines, or 2%, have female CEs. <br/>