Special Considerations

Your qualifications must meet the same minimums.
With rare exception, women and minorities are given no special consideration if their time and ratings are not competitive. Women and minorities are expected to hold the same ratings as other candidates.

Your experience must be of the same quality.
Women and minorities are expected to have flown the same caliber of aircraft, the same types of missions/trips and for the same caliber of organizations as all other candidates.

Candidates are not hired based on the organizations to which they belong.
But... organizations such as the Organization of Black Airlines Pilots (OBAP), Women in Aviation (WIA) or the 99s are outstanding networking opportunities and information resources.

Family status and pregnancy are irrelevant.
By law, you will never be asked about your family status and there is no requirement for you to discuss it.

~More External Links~

Women In Aviation Resource Center- Over 488 educational, historical, and networking resources to empower women in all aspects of aviation.

WASP WWII Museum - Honors the WOMEN PILOTS of WWII and to shine a light on their contributions to the history of United States military aviation. Hear the songs, see the planes, check out the documents and photographs...

Make sure you visit our More Recommended Reading for a list of books of particular interest to women.

According to Eileen Gunn of the Wall Street Journal in an article entitled "Don't Let These Common Traps Keep You From Getting Ahead", women bring uniquely feminine styles, motivations and skills to professional life. They have learned to use some of their strengths -- like empathy, adaptability and strong verbal skills -- to their advantage. Yet women often want to please, are concerned about what others think and want to get along. While valued and pleasant socially, taking these characteristics too far to the exclusion of asserting their needs can cause women to lose too many opportunities. Unfortunately, this may reinforce another typically feminine characteristic, self-doubt, to the detriment of career progression.

Self-doubt and an unwillingness to be aggressive can result in lower career achievement, diminished stature and missed opportunities, even for women who are qualified and enthusiastic. To combat this, it is recommended that women pilots use the facts-and-figures language preferred by male colleagues and take on challenging assignments that demonstrate publicly a lack of timidity and risk aversion - and to develop better self assurance.

Women should not sell themselves short. Women often feel they must be 100% qualified - perhaps overqualified - to apply for advancement in their careers. Men generally do not feel this way, so are willing to take the risk and learn the job after landing it. Women need to stretch their skills and take that risk too, or they risk idling with nothing better than lateral moves. Rise to the challenges of the cockpit and continually seek better equipment, the Captain's seat and instructor, standards or management positions. Be a role model for others!

Women may be rabid when negotiating for others, but often give in too quickly when negotiating for themselves. This relates back to the tendency to sell themselves short. Negotiations are not only an opportunity to make career gains but also to create an impression of confidence. Women don't want to look unprepared or like they're intimidated by stressful situations, yet negotiating for an advancement, training opportunity or better schedule is an excellent opportunity to showcase strengths - even if ultimately the advancement is not achieved. A strong negotiator engenders respect amongst her peers.

Women are notoriously poor networkers. They may be good at being friendly and extending themselves, but they don't take advantage of that skill by developing relationships with people who can help them. At every point in a woman's career, there are others out there who can and will help her. Women should not be afraid to ask for that help, nor should they be shy about offering it. Self-doubt creeps in too frequently, making women believe they are not worthy of assistance or that their offer of assistance is insufficient or unwanted.

Carol Gallagher, in her book Going to the Top: A Road Map for Success from America's Leading Women Executives (Penguin, 2001), stresses the importance of developing relationships in the work place. Women are superb at developing relationships socially, but are often unable to do so within their careers. In their urge to achieve equality, women often toil very hard but overlook the value of those "nice-but-necessary" meals, meetings or group activities that can enhance their standing with their peers. Casual discussions over dinner on a layover with your other crewmember(s) are a wonderful chance to enhance your worth as a peer and someone worthy of advancement. This is another form of networking - the Captain with whom you are dining may later move to management or that F/O may move on to a better company. (Of course, these events can also be a wonderful way to totally shoot yourself in the foot!) Yes, study systems and FARs on your layover, but don't neglect the opportunity to impress others over a meal.

Although much progress has been made, women who are not married or mothers may be suspected as being "lesbian" or "feminazi" in the most negative sense. Married women may be thought to put more emphasis on their families than on their careers. It seems women can't win. As in other careers, women wishing to achieve equality are often regarded as a threat - and if they don't bother to get to know their peers they run the risk of reinforcing this perception.

Fortunately, the times are changing rapidly! As the number of women increase, more and more impress their managers and subordinates. More and more support one another and bring with them a wave of solid improvement. Women are moving into leadership positions and encouraging their sisters. Pregnant women are proving themselves to be just as competent as they were before. Single women do just as good a job as married women and married women are just as professional as married men. As more competent women move to leadership positions within airlines, the military and corporate aviation, more acceptance of female line pilots will occur. Women are coming to be regarded as pilots - competent, accomplished, successful pilots, not "women pilots".

For women to succeed, they need to do it collectively - but with individual effort. It will take more than just waiting for airline/corporate/military managements to appoint a single woman to their team for conditions to improve. Women's success hinges on women pilots coming together on some necessary issues. Women can: