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Gender on the flightdeck: Experiences of women commercial airline pilots in the UK

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  • McCarthy, Faye
  • Budd, Lucy
  • Ison, Stephen

Abstract

The reasons for, and the implications arising from, the underrepresentation of women on the flightdeck of commercial aircraft continues to challenge national Governments, the aviation industry, and the academic community. Although some airlines have made concerted efforts to improve the gender balance of their flightcrew, womens' participation in the profession remains low. Of the 130,000 airline pilots worldwide only 4000 (3%) are women and only 450 hold the command of Captain. The dominant historical discourse of airline pilots as assertive masculine figures may act to dissuade women from pursuing a career on the flightdeck and women pilots are subjected to sexist remarks and behaviour from colleagues and passengers. Given commercial aviation's increasing growth worldwide and the concurrent increase in demand for highly skilled labour, the inability to recruit and retain women pilots represents a significant problem for both the sector and the wider economy as it will constrain growth, hinder aviation's expansion by failing to capitalise on women's skill sets, and delay the achievement of gender equality. Understanding the experiences of flightcrew is therefore vital in addressing this important research problem. Through the use of in-depth interviews with men and women flightcrew in the UK, the research identifies a number of obstacles to greater female participation and recommends that airlines not only focus on gender differences in learning, leadership and communication but that they also take steps to more effectively manage diversity in their workforce and actively promote positive representations of women flightcrew both within and beyond their organisation.

Suggested Citation

  • McCarthy, Faye & Budd, Lucy & Ison, Stephen, 2015. "Gender on the flightdeck: Experiences of women commercial airline pilots in the UK," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 32-38.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:47:y:2015:i:c:p:32-38
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2015.04.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. McFadden, K. L., 1996. "Comparing pilot-error accident rates of male and female airline pilots," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 443-450, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Meraiah Foley & Sarah Oxenbridge & Rae Cooper & Marian Baird, 2022. "‘I’ll never be one of the boys’: Gender harassment of women working as pilots and automotive tradespeople," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 1676-1691, September.
    2. Smith, Whitney E. & Cohen, Scott & Kimbu, Albert N. & de Jong, Anna, 2021. "Reshaping gender in airline employment," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Yanıkoğlu, Özge & Kılıç, Sena & Küçükönal, Hatice, 2020. "Gender in the cockpit: Challenges faced by female airline pilots," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    4. Yaşar Dinçer, Fatma Cande & Yirmibeşoğlu, Gözde, 2024. "Constraints on women pilots in airline industry: A rising sector of international trade," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    5. Donna Bridges & Elizabeth Wulff & Larissa Bamberry, 2023. "Resilience for gender inclusion: Developing a model for women in male‐dominated occupations," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 263-279, January.
    6. Woods, Stephen & Harris, Megan & Rice, Stephen & Boquet, Albert & Rice, Connor & Rosales, Danielle & Domingo, Cassandra & Bivens, Matthew & Lange, Ryan & Winter, Scott & Crouse, Sean, 2024. "Using social role theory to predict how gender and ethnicity of aviation job candidates affects perceived job classifications," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    7. Ragbir, Nadine K. & Rice, Stephen & Winter, Scott R. & Baugh, Bradley S. & Milner, Mattie N. & Gupta, Madhur Bharat & Valecha, Drishti O. & Candelaria-Oquendo, Karla & Capps, John & Neal, Jan G., 2021. "An examination of consumer bias against female and minority commercial pilots," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

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    Keywords

    Pilots; Flightcrew; Gender; UK;
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