AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019 - 87

challenges abound. Eric Crump is the
head of Polk State College's aviation program in Lakeland, Florida. Crump said he
once asked his daughter as they were getting on an airline whether she would like
to be a pilot someday. "No, that's a boy
job," she told him. "Her mother and I are
both pilots; she's been exposed to aviation
in every imaginable respect since birth. I
couldn't believe she still didn't think aviation was open to her," he said. "That made
it real to me that we have work to do as an
industry and as a community."
Some pilots speculate that because aviation sometimes makes it difficult to have
a career and a family that women are naturally not as drawn to it as men. "My wife
made a choice to focus on our family as
her primary driver," Crump said. "But she
is still incredibly active in aviation in other
ways that fit her desired lifestyle. It's not
an either/or question."
Houston said she's able to make aviation work as a career in part because of
a strong support network and because
she waited to fly for the airlines until her
kids got older. She was a full-time flight
instructor prior to flying for the airlines.
"My delayed entry to the airline industry
was because I wanted to be home with my
kids," she said. "It would have been very
difficult to have small children and fly for
a career."
In many ways that fact is changing,
in part because the airlines are hiring so
quickly. "People have been able to progress
quickly, which has allowed them to have
more control over their schedules," said
Sarah Rovner, an airline pilot and owner
of an aircraft ferrying company. "You gain
seniority and that's been attractive to having a career and family" for women.
On the recreational flying side, other
factors are potentially at work, including
less free time, lower amounts of discretionary income, and difficulties in flight
training. Nationwide the unadjusted
gender pay gap for women is roughly 20
percent, meaning women have significantly less discretionary money for flight
training. They may also have less time, two
of the major impediments to learning to

fly. A survey by Britain's Office of National
Statistics found that women spend about
two hours and 38 minutes a week on
hobbies, compared to four hours and 39
minutes for men. The study speculated
that despite a growing equality at home,
women continue to spend more time on
family and chores than men, and that when
not in leisure, "women were more likely to
be performing unpaid work."
Getting out of the aviation bubble is
critical to attracting more pilots, and a
more diverse group of pilots. Technology
can help. "I think we're seeing a small
uptick in females because of social media,"
Houston said. "Because we don't have
mentors from the top we're mentoring
each other from social media and email."
Fixing gender bias and other failures in
flight training may also help diversify the
pilot population, said Mullin. "I remember
sitting behind the owner of a flight school
at a conference and he just started going off
about how he doesn't know how to talk to
women, why they keep leaving the school,
how to make them stay. When you think
that women students are an obstacle, they
will be an obstacle."
There seems to be no agreement on
how best to ensure women complete training at the same rate as men (more than
12 percent of students are women, but
only about 10 percent of new pilots), but
acknowledging there is a problem could be
the first step. There is a disagreement in
current educational research as to whether
boys and girls learn differently or whether
we set up the environment differently, and
thus affect the outcome. One thing is clear:
The antiquated idea that women simply
can't understand technical matters as well
as men has long since been disproven.
Many organizations, such as Women
in Aviation, are doing their part to provide
mentoring paths for women. The group
holds a Girls in Aviation Day every year that
brings girls to the airport to expose them
to aviation. When the effort began just a
few years ago 3,000 kids and 40 chapters
participated. Last year 15,000 young people were exposed to aviation through 100
chapters worldwide. "It takes a myriad of

SARINA HOUSTON

SARAH ROVNER

approaches and keeping it in front of people," Chabrian said. "Mentoring is key to
helping people, particularly if they are new
to aviation."
WAI also helps to administer scholarship funds that are open to both men
and women, a point of debate within the
community. The program started in 1996
with two $500 awards. This year WAI
passed the $12 million mark. In 2019, the
organization was planning to award 130
scholarships valued at $780,000.
It 's clear, however, that solving the problem will take more than
money. Sometimes all that's needed is
an invitation, a bit of support, and an
acknowledgement that for aviation to
thrive, all are encouraged to join. AOPA
EMAIL ian.twombly@aopa.org

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019

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