“A boy’s own tale”: Using intersectional frameworks to chart the reproduction of historical discrimination in aviation

It is estimated that ninety five percent of pilots in civil aviation are men and there is little progress being made in increasing numbers of women pilots globally. Gender issues such as hegemonic masculine cultures, employment discriminations, and the social exclusion of women seem to have changed little since the publication of our co-edited book Absent Aviators in 2014. This chapter considers to what extent the gendering of airline history, and the gendering of women’s involvement in aviation, contributes to the problem of gender segregation in the industry. We examine three international airlines - Air Canada, British Airways and Qantas through the lens of history texts. In doing so we apply an “intersectionality: history over time” framework to the analysis of historical texts. Following the tradition of Hendricks et al (2020) we acknowledge the “heuristic value” of intersectionality as a framework enabling the investigations into discrimination that has occurred historically and continues to occur in the present day. Charting discriminatory practice through time and across national and organisational contexts allows insight into organisational practices and national trends. This allows insight into how historical belief systems and practices create present realities for women in aviation today.