Daily Times

The flight path to Gilgit is one of Pakistan’s most challenging. Indeed, the airstrip at the local airport is not only extremely short but lies at the end of a slope. And last week, Captain Maryam Masood and First Officer Shumaila Mazhar led an all-women crew to Gilgit and back.

To be sure, this is not a first in terms of women pilots taking to the skies — but it is the kind of success story that PIA needs to invest in and build upon. More so than, say, splashing the cash on cosmetic face lifts that saw the Markhor introduced to the national fleet.

For this is not about tokenism that uses women to create an advertising buzz. It is quite simply about smashing glass ceilings. After all, the aviation industry around the world is still a male-dominated one. And this has to do with outdated stereotypes as opposed to questions over women’s capabilities.

Towards this end, it might be an idea to pilot a quota system of sorts to gauge the level of interest expressed by Pakistani women in taking to the skies. In the long-term, PIA, in conjunction with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), may wish to look into offering women-oriented scholarships for flight training as well as aeronautical engineering.

Similarly, the time has come for all airlines to do away with antiquated notions of “trolley-dolly” flight attendants. Again, this tends to be a worldwide industry problem that favours young and impeccably made-up women. Of course, there is nothing wrong with striving for professional appearance. But this could be better achieved by being more inclusive of age and experience. Moreover, this would go some way to avoid incidents whereby (non-consensual) pictures of air hostesses not looking their best garner social media attention that verge on bullying and harassment. And as an aside, it must be noted that not so much attention to personal appearance is expected of male stewards.

We hope to see more women pilots flying the flag for PIA. For only when this becomes the norm can the national carrier honestly claim to be great people to fly with.  *

Published in Daily Times, June 24^th 2018.