I worked in a male-dominated industry for a few years of my life, and looking back on it, there were no women in management positions at the airline. According to ALPA (Air Line Pilots Association), only 5% of their 53,000 members are women (CNN, 2011). Think about it – how many times have you been headed on a trip, seated in your cramped airline seat and heard a female voice come over the PA. Your first thought is that it’s a flight attendant, right? It’s not necessarily a bad thing, because we do think most pilots are male and most flight attendants are female. Is this because women are typically drawn to positions in areas like public relations and HR, or service jobs such as being a teacher, nurse or flight attendant? Perhaps, but I believe some of the issues regarding women reaching management positions in the airline industry are due to the barriers discussed in Lesson 13.
Some of the typical barriers to women reaching top positions, such as interpersonal barriers, including access to informal networks are part of the reason there are fewer women pilots in management positions. Many airline talks happen far away from the plane at a restaurant or in the hotel lobby. In an industry that is male dominated, it’s more difficult for the lady pilots to get included in the “old boys” club. And along the lines of the “old boys” club, there definitely still exists the organizational barrier that shows men typically promote other men because they prefer to work with those similar to them. The biggest barrier to female pilots in management, in my opinion, is the personal barrier of work-home conflict. Being a pilot requires multiple days and nights away from home, and with many women still taking charge of most household duties and childrearing, it’s difficult for them to be flying and staying in hotels for 18 days each month.
Overall, women are just as capable as men of flying an aircraft, becoming an instructor and being in aviation management. However, due to some of the barriers that still exist, women are still in the minority by quite a bit. That’s not to mean this will never change, as the airline industry moves into a new era there is much more opportunity for women to move up, should they choose.
Reference:
Pawlowski, A. (2011, March 18). Why aren’t more women airline pilots?. Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-18/travel/female.airline.pilots_1_women-airline-pilots-american-airlines-captain-helen-richey?_s=PM:TRAVEL
brian f. redmond says
Good post Courtney. I want to add to the conversation that one of the reasons that there are substantially fewer female pilots is the number of hours needed flying prior to applying to become a commercial pilot. Without having to pay an extraordinary amount of money for a flight supervisor, the only place to get the amount of training is in the military where pilots log more than enough hours to become a commercial pilot for free. So some of the adverse impact that is seen in the hiring of commercial pilots actually is a consequence of life experiences that are differentially afforded to women and men prior to the job itself. In the past, women really were not allowed to serve in the military, so only extremely wealthy women could afford to flight school training, which if one is extremely wealthy, they usually have other things to spend the money on. It will be interesting to see how the numbers change in commercial flying now that there is becoming a longer history of women in the military, particularly as pilots there.
BRENT A BRODIE says
Working in an airport over the past four years, I have noticed more and more female pilots in the industry. Typically flight crews in airports stay in teams as I watch the flight teams approach you see both male and female flight attendants and male and female pilots. I agree it is the challenge of raising a family and tending to the needs of children that poses challenges for female pilots. Further observation and confirmation through friendly conversation with many pilots as they clear security, I found a majority of female pilots to fall into three categories; 1) fresh out of flight school and they are young and single, 2) have a family with a role reversal of a stay at home father 3) the children have grown and moved out of the home. I am sure there are many other female pilot work scenarios however this appears to be the case for many. I also agree that female pilots can be just as capable as men at flying aircraft. My brother an F-18 Hornet pilot with the United States Marine Corp and now a commanding officer has had the opportunity to fly with women in combat situations. He has seen female pilots rise to the head of the ranks and has personally promoted many female pilots as a commanding officer. I recall a flight returning from London England on approach to Newark airport when a pilot had to quickly maneuver the aircraft. The tower had placed multiple aircrafts two close together on approach. This enormous plane was quickly maneuvered into an incline more vertical then normal to which a fast left bank was engaged. It is my belief that we avoided a very dangerous situation and as we stabilized a female voice came over the intercom explaining the situation in a calm and confident manner. I would gladly fly with a female pilot any day. Good news is on the horizon for females as our society is gradually making the shift on roll reversals. According to Northouse (2013), “Despite these barriers, women are showing a greater presence in top leadership positions. With changes in workplace norms and developmental opportunities for women; greater gender equity in domestic responsibilities; greater negotiation power of women, especially regarding the work-home balance” (p.363). I hope to see more female pilots take to the skies in the future.
References
Northouse, P.G. (2013). Leadership: Theories and Practice. Sage: Los Angeles
COLEEN MICHELLE PARAVICINI says
Women still do need to break the barrier in many industries, and I think that is beginning to happen. However, the fact that only 5% of Airline Pilots Association members are women still reflects that more change needs to occur. Maybe you are right that women may not be interested in this profession because they do not want to be away from their children for that long period of time, but aren’t flight attendants responsibile for taking similar shifts? And that field is still primarily dominated by women. There has also been an increase in the number of men who are sharing child rearing and household responsibilities (Northouse, 2013, p. 365). This may facilitate the entry of women into this field if women can break down the stereotypes.
Another thought that I had when I read your blog was that more men are also starting to enter female dominated professions, and yet I haven’t heard or ever seen a male flight attendant. It will be interesting to see if this ever occurs.