Excellent thread. I've seen several threads (there's one running in Private Flying now) about how male and female pilots, being the minority, are treated differently, but I can't say I've ever really stopped to think why there are so few female pilots out there in the first place.
It seems that the general opinion on this thread is that there is no difference in the opportunities offered to men and women, the difference is in the desire to become a pilot in the first place, which seems to make sense to me. I can't think of much to add, except in response to Sally's comment that communication and teamwork skills are as important in being a pilot as the technical skills. I'm sure you're right, Sally - you, I, and most people on this forum know that because we're interested in the industry. But the majority of people who have no connection with aviation, including the average school-age girl, probably don't realise this - I expect that many girls (and boys, for that matter) who are not particularly technically-minded would never even consider a career as a pilot because they believe it to be a 100% technical job, even though we know this is not the reality.
Another thought: Sally also said:
The areas they most frequently come across problems are with interpersonal and team skills, and mental capacity. Funnily enough, those are areas where women tend to perform well; better, on average, than men.
Could it be that the reason these are the areas where most problems occur is because most pilots are men? If it were possible seperate out and to look at the statistics just for the women trainee pilots, would we find that women have more problems with the technical aspects, and less problems with interpersonal skills? I have no idea, I'm just curious.
(By the way, I've flown with 3 female pilots - 2 of my instructors, and 1 very good friend who is a low-hour PPL. In my opinion, two of these women are extremely good pilots. One of them - the instructor who taught me for my night qualification - was an average pilot and an average instructor, at best. Although it's only a very small sample, this ratio is pretty much exactly the same as my experiences with male pilots.)
FFF
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