Page 50 - San Diego Woman Anna Adams

Women of Distinction

How I Busted Norms

Like “Women Belong in

the Kitchen” to Build

my Dream Career

By Lola Reid Allin
Author of Highway to the Sky: An Aviator’s Journey
Photos Courtesy of Lola Reid Allin

Imagine applying for a an entirely male crew of during WWII to free male son. Five years later, after lot uniform, identified by
job and being told that, as a pilots, aircraft mainte- pilots for overseas combat. careful study and consult three or four gold stripes,
woman, you shouldn’t take nance engineers, air traffic With disregard for the val- with the US military, Air I often heard, “I didn’t
jobs from men who need controllers, and aviation ue of their service, these Canada hired their first fe- know your company had
to support their families. executives, except for two women were not consid- male pilot, Judy Cameron, flight attendants. What’re
And, if you’re fortunate female instructors I hired ered professional pilots, as second officer on the you serving for lunch?” or
to have been hired, you in the last two months as but rather civilian volun- B727, a non-flying posi- “Are you keeping that seat
hear purportedly humor- Chief Flying Instructor. teers who received room, tion. warm for your boyfriend?”
ous statements from some Though women have board, and a stipend, a In 1980 when I began or “Nice of your boyfriend
of your colleagues who been flying almost as long classification that prevent- my professional aviation to loan his jacket to you!”
think a woman’s place is as men — the first female ed them from any form of career, fewer than four per- No one would even
in the kitchen or — “wink pilot was licensed in 1910 military compensation. cent of pilots were female. think to ask those ques-
wink, nudge nudge” innu- — professional aviation When the men re- I was one of just a handful tions of a man wearing the
endos about sex. was a domain historically turned home after the war, of professional commercial same pilot uniform.
I faced this and similar reserved by men, for men. they demanded to have female pilots and success Though time con-
biases time and again as I When Helen Richey was their jobs back and forced in this non-traditional ca- straints often precluded
pursued my dream of fly- hired by Pennsylvania women from the facto- reer was challenging. As extensive discussion, I al-
ing professionally. Central Airlines in 1934, ries and shops. Women proof that the assumptions ways smiled and replied
My first sensation of she became the first fe- were expected to embrace about the inherent and that I was their pilot and
being a unicorn was visual. male commercial pilot in a lifetime of dishes and lesser abilities of women therefore unable to serve
As a young girl, all the pi- North America. Despite diapers, and if they must are false, I succeeded. drinks or bring food.
lots at the nearby military her determination, her ca- work for personal satisfac- But this was no easy Though changing attitudes
and civilian airports were reer was short-lived. The tion or financial necessity, feat. Almost every day, one-by-one is possible and
male. Two decades later all-male pilot union per- they were channeled into someone evaluated my effective, it isn’t an effi-
in 1979, when I arrived at suaded what is now the forced-choice careers as abilities as a pilot. Although cient long-term strategy.
a small airport in SW On- FAA to restrict her license secretaries, shop clerks, I’d been trained and tested We, as a society — men,
tario to take my first flight to daytime flights, in good nurses, or teachers. to the same standards as women, parents, teachers,
lesson, everyone was male, weather. After Richey aban- my colleagues, a couple of and influencers — need to
except me — all instruc- Today, this would doned her dream of an them watched my every challenge and change per-
tors, all student or licensed be considered construc- aviation career, women move, waiting for a mis- vasive stereotypes which
pilots. Even my husband tive dismissal, but ninety were considered unsuit- take, waiting to report me, allocate specific behaviors
and three-year old toddler. years ago, Ms. Richey had able as commercial pilots eager to have their male to boys and girls based on
During the next twelve no recourse but to quit the until nearly forty years friends replace me. On a birth gender.
months, as I trained for company. But she didn’t later when, in 1973, Fron- weekly basis, travelers re- At remote airports
and achieved my private quit flying. Richey contin- tier Airlines (Denver, CO) vealed their astonishment flight crew are often re-
and commercial pilot li- ued to set aviation records hired Emily Howell War- to a female pilot. sponsible for loading cargo
censes in Canada, I met and was one of thousands ner, American Airlines Although I was at an and baggage. Not infre-
one female student pilot. of women in Britain, hired Bonnie Tiburzi, and airport, sitting in the pilot quently, men would try to
Briefly. For the next thir- America, and Canada who Transair (Winnipeg, Can- seat, or standing beside the push me away from a bag-
teen years, I worked with ferried military planes ada) hired Rosella Bjorn- airplane wearing my pi- gage cart full of suitcases,

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