Despite the long history women have had in aviation since the early 1900s, it is still a very male dominated area and every now and then a woman or group of women will do something that is ordinary enough in itself but is made noteworthy because it is a sign of changes in society. Providing opportunities to everyone regardless of sex is the first step, having a woman take that opportunity is the next step, then comes the story saying “hey look, a woman is doing this!”, eventually it’ll be taken for granted and no longer newsworthy. We have moved a long way toward a gender-equal society but we’re basically still in the “hey look, a woman is doing this!” phase.
The company I work for had a little blurb a while back about an all female crew, complete with photos etc. There’d been female crew members working in all four flight-crew positions for many years but it had only been recently that there happened to be a flight crewed only by woman, so sure, it’s noteworthy, and I don’t think any of the woman involved begrudged the little bit of attention given to them.
I myself was almost part of an all female crew recently, I should point out that I will never be part of an all female crew because I am not a female. My first officer looked at me shortly after take-off and said, “so you’re the only man on the aeroplane, how does that feel?”
I replied, “pretty good, I expect I’ll be well looked after ;)”
Reminds me of a scene from a “Sex and the City” episode. One of the gals was buying an apartment and the real estate attorney kept asking her questions like “Who is cosigning?” “Did the down payment come from your parents?” etc. and proceeded to tell her “Put a check next to single.”
She said later, “I checked more single boxes than my gynecologist.”
I saw the interview, and I give the Major mad props for not rolling her eyes and walking out on the interview in disgust. I’d have turned it off myself, but I was in the gym and I had no control over the TV.
“I am also allowed to carry this 9mm. Would you like to see how it works? But gee, I’m just a girl.”
Is there some sort of rule that journalists need to be clueless? I understand that it is not always easy to think on your feet. And everything is not scripted. But I would ask that those that report the news have a basic idea of the world around them.
Goodbye Walter. I think you where a good man.
What made it worse is that they dredged up 2 more women to join her as a way of honoring her final flight (in marine one). It could not get more condescending.
Part of me was waiting for the newsreader to say “math is hard”.
How about … “Breaking the Glass Ceiling Unlimited”? (Pilots and meteorologists should get that one.)
The story reminds me of a recent article by an African-American columnist at CNN.com talking about the Sotomayer nomination, wherein he complained about people’s need to prepend the tag “qualified” in front of “minority” when discussing candidates for government positions (or any job, really). As in, nobody talks about nominating a “qualified white man”, it’s just assumed that if he’s nominated he must be qualified. So whythe need to say “qualified minority” or “qualified woman”? If the person is under consideration, regardless of race of sex, they must have been qualified in the first place.
Is that the interview you are talking about? That is so not condescending at all. In fact, hardly any of her questions were related to her being a woman except the “do you think the presidents give you extra respect because they have daughters?” one. Which is kinda dumb, but they had to reference her womanhood in some way because that’s the only reason they even ran the fucking story in the first place. They sure wouldn’t be interviewing the Marine One pilot if he were a man.
Women flying helicopters you say? Next they’ll want the vote. And then they’ll be demanding equal pay and insisting they have jobs that don’t involve cooking, cleaning, or being nurses. It can only end badly, you know.
Lights tobacco pipe, goes back to reading paper, and wonders why dinner isn’t on the table yet
I will concede that I am listening through the ears of a Navy veteran who was an avionics technician and a private pilot who eventually earned a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and worked as a tool design engineer and an aerospace structural engineer - and as a female-type person, I’ve spent the last 36 years having to prove myself because of my plumbing. Still, I thought the it was a stupid interview with a stupid interviewer, and I applaud the Major for keeping her cool, because I know at least a little of what she’s been dealing with in her career.
Will the day ever come that a female <insert occupation of choice> is interviewed because she’s done something exceptional, and no one mentions that she’s the first or only *woman *to perform said feat? Or must we look forward to headlines of “Woman Researcher finds Cure for Cancer” or “Woman Doctor Treats President” or whatever? Insert Black or Asian or Hispanic as desired, and the thought is still the same.
(Pilots and meteorologists should get that one.)