#BreakingGlassCeiling: India hires more female pilots than any other country
Indian society has always been tagged patriarchal and rightly so. But there is one section that's aiming to break that label: the aviation sector, where 12% of commercial pilots are women. This is highest globally. In most Western countries, including Australia and US, it's less than 5%. And given how India is world's fastest-growing aviation market, it's expected that the number will soar further.
IndiGo, SpiceJet leading the pack
Companies like IndiGo, SpiceJet are leading the way on this. In IndiGo, low-cost airline headquartered at Gurugram, 13% of their pilots are women, which is around 330 employees. It was 10% five years ago. Some of their pilots are also managers, said company officials, adding they also have provision of day-care. Pregnant women are offered office duties and allowance equivalent to their fellow pilots.
SpiceJet's target: 3 years, 33% of female pilots
Likewise, 12% of SpiceJet pilots are women, with some doubling up as department heads. Company chairman Ajay Singh has mandated to take this up to 33% in the next three years. Among many things, they give women a fixed monthly flying schedule and also pick-and-drop facility.
"It was male-dominated and not easy to break into"
Veteran pilots like Shweta Singh and Rupinder Kaur chose this profession at a time when society frowned upon females being pilots. "It was difficult. It was a male-dominated area and not easy to break into," Singh recalled, but "society is changing." Meanwhile 37-year-old Kaur, who was jobless for a year despite getting her flying license, maintains, "It's still not that easy for us."
Aviation sector is unique, as no gender-pay gap exists here
Given everything, Singh insists, being a pilot is "the safest job. Women are more protected here than in anywhere else." Adding to the safety is the absence of gender pay-gap and flying hours, which are all fixed as per union agreements. The pay is dependent on your seniority, with the starting salary fixed between $25,000-47,000 (Rs. 17L-33L) annually, depending to the airline and aircraft.
In next 20 years, 8 lakh new pilots needed
When it comes to demand, here is the statistics: Plane-maker Boeing Co says over the next 20 years, there'll be a need of 7,90,000 new pilots, globally. In India, domestic capacity is growing at 22%, so there sure is a pull. Fortunately, as per data, enrolment rate of girls for commercial-pilot courses has also spiked from 10 to 25% in the last five years.
