Women Pilots: Why so few?

Celebrating 35 years as a commercial airline captain opened many memories and thoughts about being one of the first women to reach this goal. This led to my thinking about why are there so few young women today who are as passionate as I was to have such a career? Doing a bit of research, I recently read that “fewer than 500 women are flying as captains with major airlines worldwide.” They went on to say that fewer than 4 percent of jet-qualified pilots in the world are women. (I’m the first to agree that even these numbers don’t accurately reflect the category “flying as captains with major airlines worldwide” since many are flying as first officers, and I have no stats on how many non-US women ATP-equivalent pilots are out there.) Since I was amazed by these numbers, I began to query fellow pilots as to their thoughts on why so few women choose to go into professional aviation as well as did a bit of digging on my own. My first concern came when I came across a set of women pilot stats while cleaning out my files, dated 1987. The approximate number of women pilots with ATP ratings (which I assume is how they still determine numbers of women jet-qualified pilots) at the end of 1986 was only 3 percent, showing a mere 1% gain over the next 25+ years. So, assuming the number is still very small, I began to ask questions of pilots I flew with to get their input on why we still have so very few women interested in pilot careers. It quickly became apparent to me that there are many reasons which could account for the lack of female aviators and there’s no viable way to discover which may be real vs. those that are imagined. From my perspective, there are probably 7 categories for consideration: 1. Upbringing: How were they were raised and were they encouraged to consider various careers? Did she socialize only with other little girls or did she integrate well into a male oriented/dominated upbringing? 2. Influence/Encouragement: Did she have parents or close adult friends who encouraged her to become involved in non-traditional career paths? 3. Technical Skills: Did she have a natural bent toward things technical and/or enjoy how things work to help with the high technical skills/training needed to survive in the aviation world? 4. Passion to travel: Did she possess a wanderlust or passion for the apparently nomadic lifestyle pilots lead and did she find constant travel exciting and enriching? 5. Survival skills: Were strong survival skills a part of her personality allowing her to pursue a non-traditional career with little regard for possible harassment or discrimination? 6. Mentorship: Did she have access to the how-to information needed or at least a mentor to assist and encourage her program? 7. Funding: a most basic need for our expensive and extensive training. There are so many issues that can complicate the completion of what’s a rather long career path. Getting interested in the field is just the beginning. Enjoying the long road to a well-paid job is quite another. You need some real passion and desire to stay the course and arrive at the destination eager to continue. If you have any ideas on the subject, I’d like to hear from you. Next time we’ll talk about what it takes to survive the trials of a pilot job once you decide that this lifestyle IS for you.

Reflecting Upon Women's History Month

Since this is National Women’s History Month, I think it’s only appropriate for me to look back over my many (now 33+) interesting, exciting, challenging and rewarding years of flying commercially (not to mention the previous 9 years it took to accumulate enough flying time to get hired at a major airline).

Yes, “we’ve come along way, baby,” as the saying goes and it’s interesting to note some of the yardsticks that remind me of just how far we’ve come. I won’t have time to describe all the major accomplishments of women in various fields, including space, science, medicine, sports and technology, just to name a few, but what I notice is the natural acceptance of women in what is really a gender-neutral field. In the past I used to quip to myself, when an occasional passenger would give me a shocked look as he (or she!) deplaned, “Why should you care who’s flying this bird? When you find an airplane that can tell you the sex of the person who’s flying it, I’ll stop!” These days, most everyone is in the “thumbs up” mode when they learn a woman is at the controls. They know that our skills are equal to or (many cases) better than our male counterparts, due to the constant scrutiny we get from our peers, regulators and the public. All female crews are not uncommon, although I rarely have the opportunity to fly with another woman.

Being one of the first female airline pilots, I have seen everything from “don’t touch any switches, just sit there” commands from narrow-minded captains, to a round of applause from my passengers when we landed safely after a turbulence-filled and weather delayed flight. I enjoy seeing women move up the seniority ladder in my profession and their surprise at knowing there was a time when airline management actually asked the women pilots NOT to make pubic address announcements on the airplane for fear of scaring the passengers! I certainly hope more women will accept the challenge and follow their passions, whatever their dream may be.
My book, Flight Guide for Success, outlines the keys to moving forward quickly along your chosen path. Your goal is to find someone who will guide you and help you make that journey a smooth one. Your challenge is to show them that you ARE worth helping and that you will put their assistance to good use. My numerous tips for networking, finding jobs, marketing yourself, resume-writing, completing job applications, and interviewing apply to anyone (not just pilots) wanting to be successful in their career.

Having achieved my own dream, my goal is to help other young (or young-spirited) people by giving them the essential tools necessary to succeed in any field. I see only blue skies for today’s women if they will learn to be proactive on their own behalf. To purchase a copy of my book, Flight Guide for Success, visit my website at www.captainkarenkahn.com/order. If you’d like an autographed or personalized copy, just let me know.