Originally Posted by flyguy23

The short answer is yes, although we all know it's far more complicated. There is not one single thing standing in the way of women becoming pilots other than personal choice. Men are naturally drawn to jobs such as this and there are jobs that tend to be more attractive to women. Lots of science and research to back this up.

Why is no one concerned about male equity in female dominated fields? Just curious...

Originally Posted by oldmako

My observations, first, I do not believe that we can train anyone to be a pilot. And, standards MAY fall because they have fallen in the past.

The guys below knew a lot more about flying airplanes than just pushing GD buttons and following the magenta line.

1. Captain Dave Cronin on UA 811.
2. Captain Al Haynes on UA 232.

Originally Posted by Airhoss

My wife is a DVM my daughter just got accepted to Vet school. 55% of veterinarians in the US are women. MD’s and DO’s are about 50/50 male to female ratio. If commercial aviation was a desirable job for women there’d be far more female pilots. The educational requirements and hard work needed to get into Vet school or Med school are off the charts. That isn’t holding back women from pursuing those career fields.

The main barrier holding people back from becoming airline pilots is the murky and uncertain path involved in getting to the jobs that pay a descent wage. If you go to Med school or Vet school and you graduate you’ll always have a job, you’ll have the ability to hang a shingle and run your own business. If you don’t like the practice or hospital you are working for you can move along and do better for yourself. You can set up shop anywhere you’d like to live.

Airline careers involve a huge outlay of time and or money to become qualified with ZERO guarantee that you’ll ever get a descent job. Once you do get hired by a major you have zero flexibility to move on if your airline turns into a turd. And your basing choices are set in stone and inflexible. You are away from home for long periods of time making raising a family problematic.

This career has some serious barriers to entry none of which are race or sex based. It’s a very unique lifestyle that doesn’t appeal to many people. And while the money can be good it’s not a career in which you are in control of you destiny or your financial future. You are at the whim of the airline unto which you are betrothed and then become the chattel of. If that once great airline starts to suck then your career starts to suck too no fault of your own. That’s not the case with other licensed professionals such as doctors, lawyers etc. Not having the flexibility to move on is a huge downer with this career. Other professionals can move on without having to start at the bottom of the seniority list.

Just as an example there is never a time and there has never been a time since we’ve been married that my wife doesn’t have two to three equal or better job opportunities in here back pocket. Everywhere we’ve moved chasing my aviation career she’s had a job within a day if she wanted one.

Originally Posted by hummingbear

Not sure exactly how they’re defining “people of color”, but 40% of our country’s population is non-white. Around 50% are women. It shouldn’t be too hard to fill half a class with other than white dudes without sacrificing standards.

Originally Posted by Mudge

I demand racial and gender equality in pro sports too.. Why can't a 110 lb Asian woman be a lineman? If we're going full retard, let's go all the way everywhere.

Originally Posted by ThumbsUp

Like it or not, college and med school admissions in particular have shown that in order to forcibly diversify a career field, you have to lower standards. Now, it’s completely debatable as to whether lowering standards to a degree will appreciably affect the final product, but standards are lower nonetheless. If they weren’t, the vast majority of matriculants to medical school would be Asian. Perhaps though, it would motivate the others to work harder.

https://www.aamc.org/media/6066/download

Originally Posted by Flydafe

I’ve had flight control failures and a pitch trim runway..a landing gear issue but nothing life threatening but all with passengers onboard. Thank goodness the airline trained us for emergencies and how to follow a QRH. Can you imagine if the airline didn’t have SOP and emergency procedures?

Thank goodness for all of the prior pilot training from private to ATP and the standards.

Originally Posted by Varsity

All the pilot training from private to ATP?

This has to be a joke.

Originally Posted by Flydafe

Yes.. did you skip a grade to get your ATP...lol. What I’m saying is those training gates gave to be made before any of us could step foot in a 121 cockpit and all of those training progressions require passing a common standard.

Originally Posted by SonicCarhop

So in your opinion, the reason that women are pilots at a 1:10 ratio to men is because there is some sort of biology that limits a woman's desire/interest in becoming a pilot