I thought that the airline pilot ranks were dominated by men because the airlines drew so many pilots from retired military pilots.
Also, being an airling pilot is the kind of job that makes you be away frequently for multiple straight days, and a lot of women/mothers aren’t willing to do that for many years, which limits their promotion in that industry.
Then there’s the broad generality that flying big planes is the kind of mechanical/math/technical do-hicky kind of skill that skews pretty darn male.
The figure I keep hearing is that overall women are about 20% of pilots.
Although I am a female pilot myself, and I have flown for a number of years, I have yet to ever fly with another female pilot. I know a number of other flying women, but our schedules just never seem to synch up. I am quite used to being outnumbered 20:1, 40:1 or even more.
You have to remember that it takes years to rise through the ranks of flight training to become captain. I don’t think it was until the 1970’s that airlines were forced to hire women pilots (or at least stop rejecting them out of hand). It’s not surprising to me that women are still working their way up the ranks. Just like pilots who aren’t Caucasian. You would think that 60 years after the Tuskegee Airmen did such an amazing job in WWII that there wouldn’t be anyone around questioning the ability of people of African descent to fly in a compentant manner, but they’re out there. (jerks!)
I can also speak from experience that there is a LOT of social pressure on women from outside aviation to either not consider flying or to stop flying. I’ve even ranted about it on this board from time to time. In fact, I get more crap from non-aviators than the folks who fly.
There is still some prejudice out there - women pilots do report harassment and discrimination. It’s not constant - indeed, I know male pilots who prefer to fly with women partners - but it does exist. But when the military uses female flight instructors at all levels, and women in the most sophisticated of aircraft, you’d think the civilian crowd would get a grip.
The issue of being away for days at a time does cause problems for women pilots who have children or plan to. Pregnancy can also be a complication although there are no regulations about flying while pregnant (individual companies may have policies) medical complications can ground a pilot for a couple months, which can also complicate the job situation. But there have been women pilots flying into the eighth month of pregnancy. Assuming no medical problems, the main issue is whether a pregnant belly interferes with the controls (cockpits are frequently very small, cramped places.)
There is something to be said for being surprised. A lot of people are nervous flyers and something out of the ordinary like a woman’s voice instead of a man’s will throw them out of there carefully studied calmness about the whole situation.
I’m not even a nervous flyer and I have to admit being caught off guard once. I was on a flight once and the captain came over the speaker with a really rural Minesota ‘Ya-you-betcha’ accent. My immediate thought was ‘Why the hell is Olaf the turnip farmer flying my plane?’ I didn’t say anything and didn’t really care, but I could see some of the nervouser people around widen their eyes and grab the armrest when he made the announcement. It just wasn’t the studied standard pilot accent we were expecting and took a second to register.
I fly lots with United. Many female co-pilots and Captains. On everything from bug smashers up to 767. I don’t recall ever seeing a female 777 pilot, but I don’t fly those that much.
I have never heard a bad reaction from any passengr.
FTR I saw an article a while back about a father daughter team flying for Southwest.
When I fly with passengers I prefer they have a headset in part to protect their hearing, and mostly because it’s easier for me to talk to them over the engine sounds when they have one. As a side effect, they also get to hear everything on the radio. I’ve had a couple express surprise at how many female voices are on the radio. Sure. Pilots, air traffic control, ground personnel of various sorts… even if we aren’t a very visible minority we’re certainly an audible one…
I have flown with many female pilots over the years. I think that passengers will notice many more female voices on the PA system over the next ten years.
The airlines work by seniority - first hired, first to upgrade, etc. The people who are captains at major airlines now were hired 10 or 12 years ago. Think how many females were qualified or even considered for airline employment in 1990. Since then, the ratio of female airline pilots has gone up. The military has trained the majority of them (Air Force pilot training classes are sometimes up to 30% female), and they hit their stride about five years ago. In my new-hire airline class of 50 people we had 7 females. Not a huge number, but bigger than it used to be.
As the years go by and these fully-qualified females work their way up the seniority system you will hear more and more female voices on the PA.
As to who makes the announcements, it varies. Most airlines have the captain make the announcements, although some have whoever is flying do it. YMMV, but don’t be surprised if you hear a female voice.
I watched an old episode of Candid Camera (early 70s, I’d say) where the big joke was that the captain greeting the boarding passengers was… a woman! Oh, the shock and disbelief! I guess the good news is that we’ve come far enough for this joke not to work, but not so far as I would hope.