Right, just back from an entertaining tour to Russia and other bits of Europe.
Just logged the shortest airborne time in the lil jet. 8 min.
We can argue Nature v Nuture till the cows come home and the pub's shut. Who's right? Probably elements of both.
I'm a died in the wool tomboy with a fascination with all things mechanical. (I need to be, I own a Ducati) but don't have a "male" brain. (ie rubbish at maths - allowance calcs excepted)
Playing with dolls was boring to me and I'd rather climb a tree or beat up my brother. ( he deserved it, don't pity him) I was riding minibikes before I could drive and so on.
I was very lucky in my parents never forced me to do girly stuff but the option was always there to learn to knit. Hmm. Mum gave up in despair when I insisted on wearing gym boots with a dress.
Eventually got into this flying lark because it seemed like a good idea at the time. I can honestly say I was shown no favours for being a girl. I had to get my hands dirty changing engines and washing aircraft. (Didn't mind either.) Bush flying in the Kimberley soon makes you aware that Nature doesn't give a toss what gender you are, you just have to be smart.
Many employers in outback Oz that have tourist operations do hire women because they are less brutal with the machines and less likely to take testosterone inspired risks. Situational awareness, customer relations isn't gender specific but sometimes women can succeed where a bloke may fail. Communication skills here?
Checkboard (pilot) came up with an idea as to why women don't progress beyond PPL stage if they even get there. A male instructor will talk to a male pilot about flying options, the industry, how things work and so on even after the lesson has finished. He admitted that this often was not the case with female students. They got the male instructor's attention during the lesson but after it was completed, the male-female thing kicked in and often the talk was just social. So the female student isn't getting all the industry stuff that the male student automatically gets.
Checkboard often admires my multiskilling abilities plus my apparent ability to suss out situations intuitively. I admire his scientific and mathermatical brain and incredible memory. He still gets lost driving though.
To me there's no advantage to either gender. Both have inate skills that are valued in today's multi crew environment. Any so called gender deficiencies can be sorted with appropriate training.
So there you have it. Ramblings from someone who's been up since 4am.