The women helping women reach for the skies

Parts of the aviation world are still male dominated. But a growing number of women-led support organizations are working to bring more gender balance.

In her 37 years flying out of Pearson, now-retired Air Canada captain Judy Cameron had to be ready for anything.

But there was one situation she encountered so often that her response was particularly well rehearsed: The surprise when the rest of the fight deck crew discovered they’d be working with the company’s first woman pilot.  

“The guys would say to me, ‘Oh, a female pilot. I've never flown with a woman,’” says Cameron. “So, I’d look at them and say, ‘Neither have I.’”            

There was truth to Cameron’s humour. At the time, there were so few women pilots that her flight deck colleagues were almost always men.

Cameron’s route to the captain’s chair of a Boeing 777 started in 1973 at a flight school in Castlegar, B.C., where she was the only female student. But she was supported throughout by her single mother, who had been a stenographer in the Royal Canadian Airforce during the Second World War.

“She brought me up with very modest means, but what she lacked in material goods she made up for in encouragement,” says Cameron. “She accepted my career choice, which was a very unusual one for the 1970s, and was my first passenger in a small airplane.”

Upon graduating, Cameron hop-scotched around several small airlines before being hired by Air Canada in 1978. Back then, it did not even have pilot uniforms for women, so during her two pregnancies, Cameron borrowed her husband's dress shirt and her mother-in-law patched additional material into her pants.

Despite the sartorial challenges, Cameron says she felt supported and respected by the men she worked with. But her path was not always easy. “I think networking and peer groups are really important, and they’re something I missed,” says Cameron. “I had mentors, but I didn’t have any female role models.”

Increasing visibility

Today, a growing number of organizations are looking to change that. Some are historic, like the 95-year-old International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as the Ninety-Nines, which counts Amelia Earhart as its first president. Others are more recent, like the Northern Lights Aero Foundation, where Cameron is a board member. But all are firm in the view that women — and girls — need to see people like them flying, fixing and directing planes to realize that these professions exist and are achievable.

More women than ever are making careers in aviation, but there’s a long way to go. Only 7 per cent of Canadian airline pilots and 2 per cent of licensed aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) are women.

“You’ve got to reach girls when they’re in grades 4 to 6, before they start to fit the stereotypes,” says Cameron.

Alisha Sohpaul, co-founder of Hangar Queens, the first female AME network and support group in Canada, agrees. “Visiting elementary schools to spark interest in aviation at an earlier age and discover the different careers would be really beneficial,” she says. She also suggests offering greater flexibility for work-life balance to make the field more appealing and accessible.

Sohpaul founded the non-profit in 2021 when she was leading the maintenance department at Iskwew Air. For much of her career, she was the only woman on the hangar floor. Today, she is a Civil Aviation Safety Inspector or Airworthiness at Transport Canada. She wants more women to enjoy the fulfilment of AME work. “There is a lot of responsibility and weight your signature holds when you sign out a plane’s maintenance logbook, vouching for its safety,” she says.

Getting the word out

The message that aviation is for everyone is getting out, and not just by events and word of mouth. In 2018, Edmonton air traffic controller Kendra Kincade embarked on a three-year federal research project to analyze why so few women worked in aviation. One of the project’s recommendations was to create awareness campaigns to educate women about industry jobs.

“I just couldn’t get the thought of making a documentary about this out of my mind,” says Kincade.

A chance encounter on a flight with an executive from the Super Channel made it possible. This year, Kincade released her first film, Only Up!, which showcases women breaking new ground in aviation and has been nominated for three Rosie Awards. The film features Rosella Bjornson, who was the first female jet pilot hired by a North American airline, and Iskwew Air founder Teara Fraser, who was the first Indigenous woman to launch an airline. It also includes a Formula 1 air racing pilot, AMEs, air traffic control students and an RCAF search and rescue technician.  

“I get emails from people saying they cried through the movie or that it inspired them to try aviation,” says Kincade.

Practical support

Kincade is also the founder of Elevate Aviation, a national non-profit raising awareness of the opportunities for women to forge fulfilling careers in aviation. It offers aviation readiness training programs for women and underrepresented groups, as well as mentorships and scholarships. “Our graduates learn skills, earn certifications and are provided on-going support to jump-start their careers in areas such as foundational aviation skills, AME and air traffic control,” says Kincade.

It is among a growing list of organizations providing financial supports, networking groups and mentoring opportunities to help women start or advance their careers. For instance, Northern Lights celebrates outstanding women in aviation with annual awards known as the Elsies, after Canadian Elsie MacGill, who was the world’s first female aerospace engineer. It also has a mentorship program and has disbursed $200,000 in scholarships, including one set up by Air Canada in Judy Cameron’s name.

Similar conversations about how to support women in aviation are taking place at Women’s Alliance @YYZ meetings at Pearson. Members meet quarterly to support the group’s objectives of inclusion and advancement of women in the workplace. It provides networking opportunities for the more than 180 employees on the group’s mailing list, and it connects women to a mentorship program to help advance their careers at Pearson.

The alliance has done everything from providing tickets for employees to attend the Art of Leadership for Women conference to trouble-shooting everyday issues.

“At one of our meetings last year, a colleague pointed out that just because there are only two women in a department does not mean they should get uniforms designed for men,” says alliance co-chair Ashley Patora, a talent acquisition and onboarding associate in Human Resources and Corporate Services at the GTAA.

Making progress

Lola Reid Allin, who became a pilot in 1979 when she was 24 and became the first female flight instructor in De Havilland's flight safety division says all this activity is having an effect.

“In my entire career, except for the last couple of months when I hired two women, I was the only female pilot. Worldwide, only around 6 percent of commercial pilots are women, so we haven’t reached critical mass yet, but today at many aviation schools and air carriers more than one woman is on staff as a pilot.”

Reid Allin chronicles her trailblazing career in her recently published autobiography Highway to the Sky: An Aviator’s Journey.  She also supports aviation career events organized by the likes of Women in Aviation International and the Ninety-Nines.

The growing community of women in aviation is focused on sharing tips, supporting scholarships and making it easier for the next generation. Beyond the challenges that remain, their love of planes and aviation — the rush Cameron felt taking off, the gratification Kincade gets piecing together traffic puzzles, the satisfaction Sohpaul experienced fixing mechanical mysteries, the reward Patora feels about making Pearson a more welcoming work environment and Allin's joy for flying — are passions they know other women and girls are waiting to discover and love.

“It’s just wonderful to watch this support,” says Cameron.