‘Why women shy away from career in aviation’

What does Women in Aviation International (WAI) set out to achieve? Women in Aviation in Nigeria, particularly the Glowing Wings chapter which I am President, is an offshoot of Women in Aviation International, we are just a chapter of the international body. Women in Aviation International (WAI) provides a platform to encourage women excel in […]

‘Why women shy away from career in aviation’
‘Why women shy away from career in aviation’

What does Women in Aviation International (WAI) set out to achieve?
Women in Aviation in Nigeria, particularly the Glowing Wings chapter which I am President, is an offshoot of Women in Aviation International, we are just a chapter of the international body. Women in Aviation International (WAI) provides a platform to encourage women excel in aviation. Like we know aviation is a sector that is predominantly male and WAI tries to get as many women interested in taking aviation as a career. So that is what WAI is about. Talking about Nigeria, you know that a typical Nigerian female child grows up with little dreams of excelling in male dominated jobs like being doctors, scientists. Nobody cares about a woman going into the world of science, they see it as a man’s field but here we are trying to get the female child interested in aviation and in doing so we want to tell you that gone are those days when you have women only as fashion designers, nurses, teachers and all that.
But now women are in everything. For instance, we have a lot of female pilots now; we have an all-female crew flight but in the past we had women only as cabin attendants, not technical people like pilots and engineers.
Previously they were there to serve food in the aircraft; that is no longer the case. We have now taken the mantle of leadership even in aviation. In aviation now, we have female chief executives, female directors, a female CEO in Bi-Courtney which is a privately operated airport and that is quite phenomenal. We have women in very top positions in aviation now and at Nigeria Glowing Wing, we are trying to make young girls pick up interest in aviation as early as secondary school and that is what made us launch the Girls in Aviation Day recently.

Are there factors responsible for the low participation of women in aviation?
In Nigerian aviation, the first factor that militates against women participation is culture. The cultural barrier is a no-go area for women. Remember aviation is a highflying sector. In aviation, you get to see the world; you can’t be in aviation and be restricted to your kitchen or your home.  Once in aviation, you become global, but in those days, women were seen as domesticated people who must be at home to take care of the home front; cook their husband’s meals, serve him, and others. As a woman in aviation, you probably could be flying or on board somewhere in any flight and your flight could be at night and your husband is at home and you are not there. So culturally, we had challenges in the past.
Secondly the structure has limited us, we are now struggling to make our marks and let the men know that we can do it too. We are trying but cultural limitations had dampened our zeal in the past because there were very few women in the profession. Men think because you are a highflier, aviation is fashionable, trendy and any woman in aviation is fashionable and trendy so the men begin to get jittery.
Most men would not allow their wives work in aviation because they don’t want other men to see her; she would meet many people, go abroad and so on.
Because women want to be good wives, they would say, ‘I don’t want to work in aviation because my husband would not allow me to’. All this is tied to culture.
Finances are another issue, it costs so much to be in aviation in terms of training and if you are not able to get financial support to be trained, no matter the aspect of the aviation, you would jettison the idea. But those factors were in the past. I can tell you that now, some of us are getting sponsorship even from WAI International.

Tell us about your experience in the aviation sector?
I have not worked anywhere in my life but in aviation. I eat aviation, dream aviation, sleep aviation and that’s because when I left the university, the first place I got a job was in aviation, that’s Nigeria Airports Authority of those days which metamorphosed into the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and here I am now in the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). So my experience has been beautiful, I can’t have it any other way. If I didn’t enjoy my job in aviation, I would have probably left earlier than now. Yes, it might not be the best paying job, it comes with a lot of fun; flying is fun. Like I keep saying, I am hoping that one day I would be a pilot. It is never too late because I see older people when we go for conferences who come to tell stories of how they started flying at age 70 or 55.

How do you combine the home front with your profession?
I will like to say that first of all, it is by the grace of God because in anything you do, if you don’t have his grace, you would not pull through. God’s grace sustained me. I am happily married with beautiful children and even with the challenges because I have to come to work at odd hours; I have a husband who has been able to understand. First and foremost he is an aviator, I met him in the industry. So he understands the challenges of the job. Over time, our children have come to understand that, ‘oh, mummy has to be at a certain place at a certain time’. Another thing is about planning. In any situation, you need to plan, don’t let any front suffer.
The time I spend with my children outside work, I make the most of it; the time I have with my spouse outside work, I make the most of it. When I am at home, home is home; even if it is just two hours at home, we make the best use of it. We do all the dancing, we do all the TV watching and everything together. I juggle and when I am at work, I try to make sure that work is work too.
My job has become a hobby for me, not just a job. Once you make your job a hobby, that is the first start and all the challenges at the job become things that you can overcome because you are happy with what you are doing. I have passion for my job and that’s been a source of support for me.

How does a woman in aviation cope with her husband that doesn’t seem to understand the nature of her career?
You don’t have to have a husband in aviation for him to appreciate your job as a career woman in aviation. It’s about how you are able to explain to him and make him understand. Even a woman who is at home and in the kitchen can still have challenges with her husband. Again, you must communicate in very clear terms with your spouse and he would understand you. Basically you have to communicate and create trust in him. If you make him trust you, even if they come and tell stories about you, he would not bother. So you communicate, you create trust, you create an environment that when you are at home, you are the woman and the wife you are supposed to be; don’t carry your work position to your home, it would not work. He would appreciate the career woman that you are and he would support you.

What is your advice to women who are afraid of going into the aviation sector?
They should come and try and see, aviation is fun. It is a place that you would love to be. Because of the global nature of aviation, it is the only sector that you have partners everywhere in the world, it is the only sector that exposes you to various places in the world apart from where you come from; it is the only sector that gives you a shorter travelling space, within a twinkle of an eye, you cover so much miles and you can have breakfast in Nigeria and have dinner in another country as far as London or Paris. So, it is an attractive place to work in and it is another place where you can achieve your dream because we have a variety of careers in the same sector. You can be anything in aviation; it offers a variety of careers, choices.