Research Archives

The percentage of American female pilots grows to 5.7% for the first time since 1960

June 15, 2021May 29, 2021

The FAA recently published personnel licensing statistics for 2020. At the end of the year, there were 26,854 fully licensed American female pilots among 469,062 FAA licensed pilots. They now represent 5.7% of the American pilot population – the highest percentage since 1960. The numbers show that 637 became non-commercial pilots, 692 became commercial pilots, and 46 became airline transport pilots in 2020. This represents a positive trend. The number of American female pilots had …

Why Organizations with High Diversity Rankings can Leave Women Behind

March 22, 2021March 21, 2021

Every year, Forbes magazine ranks the best employers in terms of diversity. The latest iteration published in January 2020 lists only three corporations from the transportation sector in the top 100 and none for the aerospace and defence sector. Southwest Airlines (#74) tops the diversity transportation category, followed by JetBlue Airways (#76) and Delta Air Lines (#96) despite below national average percentages of female pilots at 4.1%, 4.9%, and 4.8% respectively. Women looking for a …

What four decades of Canadian statistics reveal about women progress in aviation

April 10, 2022March 3, 2021

By Mireille Goyer, Founder & President of the Institute for Women Of Aviation Worldwide Canadian media routinely and erroneously cite U.S. statistics as Canadian statistics. The facts are that Canadian women lead the American continent (from the North Pole to the South Pole) in both numbers (adjusted for country population) and percentages. See What five decades of FAA statistics reveals about women progress in aviation published in August 2011 for details about the situation in …

Why Bessie Coleman learn to fly in France

This is why Bessie Coleman went to France to learn to fly

June 15, 2021December 19, 2020

IWOAW is celebrating 100 Years of Female Pilots of all Races as part of Women Of Aviation Week 2021. Headlines and photos of WWI pilots and planes captivated the attention of Bessie Coleman but a dare by one of her brothers set her pilot career aspirations in motion. “You nigger women ain’t never goin’ to fly, not like those women I saw in France,” her brother John told her in front of her clientele at …

Petition: Help eliminate gender-exclusive words that keep women out of aviation

March 1, 2021February 23, 2020

Gender-exclusive words signal group-based ostracism and act as entry barriers In 2020, female pilots look up Notices to Airmen before each flight, validate their Medical Certificate by signing in the Airman Signature field, and refer to Airman Certification Standards to prepare for pilot tests. The FAA’s website contains more than 40,000 references to Airman or Airmen; ICAO’s website lists close to 2,000 airmen references. It does not stop with these administrative organizations. Industry stakeholders and …