Mumbai/New Delhi: Up in the air, Indian women are increasingly in charge. For a country that can't ensure a woman's safety or her basic rights on the ground, the recruitment record of India's airlines presents a contrast. As a result, the next time you take a flight in India, the chances of the pilot being a woman are much higher than anywhere else in the world.
India currently has 5,100 pilots, of which 600, or 11.7 per cent , are women, according to ministry of civil aviation data. There are a total 130,000 pilots in the world, of which 4,000, or about 3 per cent , are women, according to the International Society of Women Airline Pilots.
"This is definitely one trend which flies in the face of global opinion of India as a regressive place for women," said Harpreet Singh Dey, president of the Indian Women Pilots' Association. She's also the first female pilot to operate an international flight by a local carrier, Air India, in 1988. Families are willing to back girls who want to pursue the profession even regardless of whether they're married or not, she said.
"Flying schools are churning out a higher number of women pilots every year. There are many families who are supportive of a woman's career choice as a pilot even after marriage. There are also many women who would happily remain single to follow their passion," Dey said.
06/07/15 Anirban Chowdhury & Mihir Mishra/Economic Times
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India currently has 5,100 pilots, of which 600, or 11.7 per cent , are women, according to ministry of civil aviation data. There are a total 130,000 pilots in the world, of which 4,000, or about 3 per cent , are women, according to the International Society of Women Airline Pilots.
"This is definitely one trend which flies in the face of global opinion of India as a regressive place for women," said Harpreet Singh Dey, president of the Indian Women Pilots' Association. She's also the first female pilot to operate an international flight by a local carrier, Air India, in 1988. Families are willing to back girls who want to pursue the profession even regardless of whether they're married or not, she said.
"Flying schools are churning out a higher number of women pilots every year. There are many families who are supportive of a woman's career choice as a pilot even after marriage. There are also many women who would happily remain single to follow their passion," Dey said.
06/07/15 Anirban Chowdhury & Mihir Mishra/Economic Times
