A young lady going for an aviation career had a talk with her pilot uncle (737-captain) at a christmas party. He was scheduled for flights with female FO's, and didn't like the idea one bit. His worst scenario was to have a female captain, as he regards the home environment the only suitable place for women – luckily his seniority puts him in a safe spot. Good for the gals, I'd say: Flying with a crewmember of that disposition can be no fun. Imagine how such a guy may put you down as an FO, or question your command as a captain, just because of your gender.
Would be interesting to know if the Ryanair chief pilot's daughter mentioned earlier actually was a good pilot who had had enough harassment by the likes of my young friend's uncle. Until we get contradictory facts, I'd like to think so.
Macho-men have a habit of challenging anyone, and men of lower ranks can handle it due to conditioning from early age in the male environment. Females are not used to this code of conduct, and thus respond differently. Which may be one reason men don't like to share their professional habitat with women. (Differences in perception, as Chimbu Chuckles stated above.) Young girls downgrade themselves in order to be "attractive". Most are not fighters, but prefer to get somewhere by competence.
It's been some 30 years since the first post-WWII female pilots entered the scene. My guess is that it will take another 30 before gals are integrated. Looking back into history, there were astonishingly many female pilots in the 20-30'ies, but the war kicked them back half a century (to the kitchen) and they had to start all over again:
http://www.wasp-wwii.org/wasp/resources/dora.html
So – no wonder the percentage of female pilots is still so low? Only the hardiest of personalities can survive, and some good pilots may be lost due to (secluded?) harassment by a few (?) conservative men unwittingly (?) choosing to resist bringing on modern times. Scenario more suitable for 1904 than 2004.
Thanks to those of you here who prove that the world turns.
