Why aren't more women airline pilots?

[steingar]

asks CNN, in this rather nice piece.

 

[Jim Logajan]

asks CNN, in this rather nice piece.

Examining gender bias among airline pilots is rather late in the metaphorical career pipe to be looking for a leek or cause. A lot of the "reasons" given in that article absolutely fail to explain the gender disparity in private pilots. The whole "its a demanding career" reasoning (and all its annoying derivatives) is bunk since it doesn't explain why so few women want to fly for the sake of flying as a past-time! About half of all pilots aren't doing it as a career. Consider the statistics:

According FAA statistics (tables 1 and 2 from http://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/civil_airmen_statistics/2009/):

• In 2000, pilot certificates held by women:
  • 5.7% (35,607 of 625,581) of all.
  • 11.3% (10,189 of 93,064) of student.
  • 5.8% (14,554 of 251,561) of private.
  • 4.6% (5,807 of 125,738) of commercial.
  • 3.1% (4,411 of 141,596) of airline transport.
• By 2009:
  • 6.2% (36,808 of 594,285) of all.
  • 11.7% (8,450 of 72,280) of student.
  • 6.8% (14,322 of 211,619) of private.
  • 6.6% (8,289 of 125,738) of commercial.
  • 3.9% (5,636 of 144,600) of airline transport.

The gain in commercial and ATP certificates were the most significant. The percentage gain in private pilot percentage was due to entirely to having a lower attrition rate than men! But in all cases, women just didn't make up that great a percentage. Now go figure out the percentages for the non-pilot fields in those tables - one field stands out! Do any of the "reasons" stated in the article explain the percentages in those fields!?

Since only ~0.3% of all U.S. citizens who are likely eligible to become pilots ever do (assuming everyone who drives a car is eligible; ~190,000,000 drivers http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/onh2p4.htm) the low percentage of women among the piloting ranks may be simply due to a secondary causal action because of the extreme winnowing that occurs at the extremes of any bell curve.