African women pilots breaking gender stereotypes to lead in aviation
For generations, there has been a general consensus on roles defined by gender stereotypes such as the binomial categorisation of gender roles for a man and a woman.
The aviation industry is no exception with decades of male dominance in the industry. The 2023 International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) global assessment of the status of licenced aviation workers by gender shows the gender disparity in the aviation sector with males making up a staggering 95.06% of the personnel in the aviation sector.
However, the participation of women working as pilots, air traffic controllers, and maintenance technicians has soared globally from 4.5 per cent in 2016 to 4.9 per cent in 2021, the report indicated.
Africa leads the way in the number of women pilots at 5.21 per cent, followed by North America at 4.61 per cent and Europe at 4.20 per cent.
This progress can be traced back to trailblazers like Egypt’s Lotfia Elnadi, the first woman from the Arab world and Africa to earn a pilot's license in 1933, according to L’Orient Today.
Moroccan, Touria Chaoui, who was born in 1936 and at age 15 became a licensed pilot and is also claimed to be the first woman pilot in the Arab world, according to Morocco World News.
Melody Millicent Danquah, Ghana's first female pilot, who in 1964 in a De Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk aeroplane, became the first person in the history of the West African nation to fly an aircraft solo, local Ghanaian media GhanaWeb reported.
The tenacity and determination of these African women opened the door for future generations of African women in aviation.
The increasing number of African women pilots is a testament to the changing times and a step towards shattering the glass ceiling in the aviation industry.
