'Work to be done': aviation still overwhelmingly male

Rebecca Lutte regularly takes to the skies behind the controls of her RV-10 kit plane. Lutte, who is often joined in the air by her husband in the passenger seat, says that on several occasions air traffic controllers asked if her spouse was there in case of problems. "It's not often. But it just shows that there's still more work to be done," says Lutte. While some women have overcome such prejudice and made inroads into the sector in recent years, aeronautical careers remain largely the preserve of men -- especially at the top. According to a 2021 study by Lutte, an associate professor at the Aviation Institute, University of Nebraska at Omaha, fewer than 6% of pilots at the world's leading airlines are women. Just eight of the largest 100 carriers in the world in terms of passengers carried have female bosses. Those that do include Air France, under the baton of 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 gained in numbers, but they've really had to fit into a system that wasn't designed for them." Barriers faced by aspiring female aviators include uniforms designed for men and scant representation of women in training manuals. As in other sectors, sexism and aggressive sexual behaviour are pervasive. In a 2018 study by Women in Aviation International, 71% of women surveyed said they had suffered some form of workplace harassment. Several women have nonetheless made their mark on aviation. Story has more. <br/>