Overview
We tend to think of diversity across racial, gender or ethnic lines. However, diversity is found in differing traditions, cultures, identities, genders, expressions, orientations, ages, abilities, religious beliefs, economic backgrounds, and racial/ethnic origins. In some ways, the aviation industry is very diverse, yet in other ways it is not.
The following excerpt is from a September 2014 publication in The Hill by Michael L. Zirulnik titled, “Airlines’ Flight Decks Lack Diversity”:
“The chief pilot asked me to hire a black female pilot so we could check off a ‘diversity’ box on a reporting form so we could keep our government contracts,” a human resources director of a mid-sized air cargo transport company told me last year at a pilot recruiting event. “Once I did hire that woman, the chief pilot came back to me and said to never hire another one [black female pilot] again. Things are gonna stay the way they’ve always been around here,” she said.
That same day, a captain at a large regional airline said his company probably isn’t going to hire black pilots anymore because “they drop out of training or quit after a year here.”
Research shows that minority pilots, including female pilots, are as capable, if not more capable and qualified, than their white male counterparts even though coworkers and the public attribute the reason for their being hired as the need to fill quotas.
The flight deck of U.S. airlines remains a predominantly white male landscape. Besides Helen Richey, the first female commercial pilot, hired in 1932 — subsequently forced to quit a year later due to a change in U.S. regulations that forbid women to fly in conditions other than “fair weather” — it wasn’t until 1973 that women were allowed back into the flight decks of U.S. airlines. Twenty-two years onward, the first black woman would earn her wings and become captain of a major airline (UPS). So novel and memorable, Patrice Clark-Washington’s mannequin and uniform remain on permanent display at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum in Washington.
Today, 4.1 percent of airline transport pilots (ATPs) are women, 2.7 percent are black or African-American, 2.5 percent are Asian and 5 percent are Hispanic or Latino.
An analysis of segregation in U.S. industry hiring practices using data from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for the years 1966 to 2003 that accounted for race, ethnicity and sex, shows that workplace desegregation stalled at 1980 levels. The failure has in part contributed to the monolithic demography of U.S. ATPs and a culture of whiteness and masculinity in the flight deck. Airlines’ flight decks lack diversityLinks to an external site..
Instructions
Your assignment is to reflect on this article and the information provided in your book and write an essay on whether you believe systemic barriers exist to prevent diversity in the aviation workplace.
Be sure to answer the following questions in your paper:
Does diversity in aviation exist, and if so, where can it be found and what evidence or statistics supports its existence?
Are there any systemic barriers to prevent diversity in aviation? If so, what are they?
Are there any issues on diversity once people have gotten a job within the industry? In other words, are there any barriers or issues once those from less represented backgrounds do find a position in the aviation industry?
USE APA FORMAT AND AT LEAST TWO SOURCES THAT ARE NOT BLOGS
