“There are now 127 active female pilots in Nigeria out of a total number of 2,958 pilots in the country.” This was the figure quoted at an aviation forum held in Lagos in June 2015 by the acting director of the Directorate of Licensing, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) at the time, Mr Emmanuel Ogunbambi. From then till now, it’s uncertain how many more female pilots have been certified in Nigeria. But these two things are certain; the meagre figure – disappointing or perhaps encouraging – depending on your perspective is not peculiar to Nigeria. And more Nigerian women are on a quest to bridge the gender gap, not just in the country’s aviation industry, but in the global aviation industry. One of such women is Ladidi Victoria Kolo, a recently certified Class 1 pilot from Kwara state.
In an interview originally published by Nigerian blog, Abiyamo, Victoria gave an interesting narrative on her journey to becoming a pilot while highlighting some of the challenges of her career such as the financial cost, and the prominent issue of gender stereotype. “People wrongly perceive that pilot training should be or are designed for young, mechanically-inclined males. And that exceptions may apply when the women are exceptional,” Victoria replied when asked whether or not gender influences flying. “It is this gender inequality issue that makes people who have little or no knowledge about flying feel that it’s a job for men only,” she added.
Victoria could not be more apt. In the last few decades, more women have gotten involved in the aviation industry, still, the numbers pale in comparison to the number of men in the industry. For example, female pilots represent only six percent of the total pilot population, according to the stats by international NGO, Women in Aviation. The world of commercial airline piloting is one of the most biased when it comes to gender disparity. The International Society of Women Airline Pilots put the figures at 4000 female commercial pilots to 130,000 male worldwide.
The question, “Why aren’t there more female pilots?” has been asked repeatedly over the years;
High flyers: Why aren’t there more women airline pilots? – BBC
Why are there so few female pilots? – The Telegraph
Why aren’t there many female commercial pilots? – TodayIFoundOut
As highlighted by Victoria, sexism is a major issue in the world of aviation. Female pilots are often ridiculed by passengers and their colleagues. “When I was a flight attendant and told pilots I was learning to fly, I would be laughed out of the cockpit,” Karen Guadagni, who’s now been a pilot for 15 years told Detroit Free Press. There have also been notable cases of passengers refusing to fly with a female pilot.
There is also the flawed notion that piloting an aeroplane is pretty tough, and therefore is a career only fit for men. This nonsensical theory has been disputed time and again. Although it is a tough profession to get into with so many years of training, flying a plane is a non-gender specific job. It is no more a barrier to a woman than it is for a man. In her interview, Victoria noted that men experience as much difficulties as women during training, “Male trainees have difficulties as much as their female counterparts. In the course of my training, there were men that gave up; men who couldn’t complete the training course,” she said.
Another challenge is the cost of training. Completing a course and earning the certificates to fly cost about $100,000 to $200,000. Victoria’s parents sold their only car to finance her training at some point, and that did not cover nearly half the cost of her study. Friends of the family had to pitch in for the remarkable young lady to realise her dream of becoming a pilot. “The private pilot licence training cost a substantial amount of money; it’s quite expensive and my dad panicked at this point because he didn’t even know where to get the money from … his friend came to our rescue. I guess he saw how passionate I was about flying …”
Victoria suggests that as part of the move to encourage more women in aviation, and to increase the number of female pilots, the cost of training “should be subsidised.” “Females should be given an enabling environment to encourage them to come into the industry,” she stated.
There is also the issue of a lack of visible role models and a meagre entry-level pay. In a survey conducted by the British Airways, “a fifth of women interviewed said they thought that women could only be cabin crew.” One in ten said growing up, they were told that being a pilot was a man’s job. Others said they were discouraged by the absence of female pilots in the media.
How can these challenges be tackled? “Enlightenment is the key,” said Victoria. “In Africa, Nigeria being no exception, females are (often) relegated to the kitchen. Even the educated ones still have issues fitting into jobs perceived to be for males only. In addition, the males feel threatened when a female rises up to some professional level. I believe females should be educated and accorded equal opportunities. Their confidence level should be elevated as that of their male counterparts.”
The graduate of Sociology who now has a foreign pilot’s licence wants to further her training to become a commercial pilot but says her parents can’t afford to help her. She currently has two admission offers to a flying school in the United States and another in South Africa but with a tuition of about $57,000 for a six to nine months course, this young lady’s ambition might be grounded.
