Rebecca Lutte regularly takes to the skies behind the controls of her RV-10 kitplane.
Lutte, who often flies into the air with her husband in the passenger seat, says that air traffic controllers have asked several times whether her husband is there if there are problems.
“It’s not often. But it just shows that there is still a lot to do,” says Lutte with a smile.
While some women have overcome such prejudices and entered the sector in recent years, careers in aviation remain largely reserved for men – especially at the top.
Less than six percent of pilots at the world’s top airlines are women, according to a 2021 study by Lutte, an associate professor at the Aviation Institute at the University of Nebraska in Omaha.
Only eight of the world’s 100 largest airlines in terms of passengers carried have female chiefs.
These include Air France, led by Anne Rigail, Aer Lingus’ Lynne Embleton and, since July 1, KLM’s Marjan Rintel.
“Aviation is a system that was originally designed by men and for men,” says Lutte.
“Over the years, women have increased in number, but they’ve really had to fit into a system that wasn’t designed for them.”
– reduce inequality –
Obstacles faced by prospective female aviators include uniforms designed for men and low representation of women in training manuals.
As in other industries, sexism and aggressive sexual behavior are pervasive.
In a 2018 study by Women in Aviation International, 71 percent of women surveyed said they had suffered some form of workplace harassment.
Still, some women have made their mark in aviation.
This includes US aviator Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic under her own power.
Frenchwoman Raymonde de Laroche was the first woman in the world to receive a pilot’s license in 1910.
During the 20th century, several women aviators fought for their countries – notably as part of the paramilitary Women Airforce Service Pilots program that supported the US Air Force during World War II.
More recently, some airlines have made reducing inequality in the industry a priority.
US airline United has pledged to ensure that by 2030 at least half of the 5,000 pilots the airline plans to train by then will be women and minorities.
– Female role models –
Some airlines, like Air India, have made further strides towards equality, with women making up around 13 percent of their pilots, according to the International Society of Women Airline Pilots.
Canada’s CAE simulation technology and training group offers training grants to women and signed a partnership agreement with European low-cost airline easyJet at the Farnborough Air Show this week.
The British airline intends to hire one of the European women participating in the program.
Equality will take time, but there is reason for optimism, says Sandra Bour Schaeffer, CEO of Airbus UpNext, part of the European aircraft manufacturer that develops and tests disruptive future technologies for aviation.
The Franco-German engineer, who has around 20 years of experience in the industry, says the key is to bring young talent on board and to put an emphasis on education.
“First of all, you don’t have to restrict the girls in their choices, but open up perspectives for them, show them that there are many things that women and men can do equally,” she says.
Bour Schaeffer says it’s important to have female role models who have already made it — even if it remains a tumultuous path.
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