A comparative study of male and female future pilots career start

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FEDERAL STATE AUTONOMOUS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

FOR HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

NATIONAL RESEARCH UNIVERSITY HIGHER SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

St. Petersburg School of Social Sciences and Area Studies

BACHELOR'S PROJECT

A comparative study of male and female future pilots career start

Field of study: 39.03.01 Sociology

Degree programme: Sociology and Social Informatics

Voronova Elizaveta Dmitrievna

Saint Petersburg 2020

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• 1. Literature review
• 2. Methods and Data Collection
• 3. Results
• References
• Appendices

Introduction

The sphere of aviation develops and grows fast which causes a demand for qualified pilots. Until the coronavirus infection that affected the world at the beginning of 2020, there was a deficit of pilots all over the world. However, new disease influenced sphere of aviation significantly and the deficit turned into a surplus (URL: https://simpleflying.com/global-pilot-shortage-surplus/). In such conditions, even after aviation returns to normal operation, competition will be high, which means that airlines will be interested in the most qualified and motivated employees. That is why understanding of why people choose a profession of pilot is so important nowadays. Moreover, this topic is unstudied, especially in Russia.

As far as university or college is the first step on the career ladder, the object of study are students of Saint Petersburg State University Of Civil Aviation whose educational program provides for a diploma and a CPL (commercial pilot license) which are both documents required by employers. The subject of study is students' career start. To specify, it is their attitudes towards profession, inspirations and motivations, expectations and the perception of career choice and profession in general by people around.

To make concepts clearer, attitudes towards profession is a combination of positive and negative beliefs of students about job they have chosen and personal traits compatible with this job. Inspirations and motivations are factors that influence the decision of students to become pilots. Career expectations are mostly about goals that students are going to achieve in the future: what airline and type or types of planes they are going to work with, continuity of work, position they would like to achieve and attitudes towards work abroad. Attitudes of people from environment is about positive and supportive or negative and condemning reaction of family members, friends and other people a person contacts with about his or her career choice and profession of pilot in general. All these components of career start are embedded into London's career motivation theory which main components are individual characteristics, situational variables and career decisions and behaviors (London, 1983). This theory is a baseline of this research.

The goal of this research is to investigate what attitudes towards profession do students have, what motivates them to choose a career of pilot and what do they want to achieve in the future. Moreover, attitudes of family members, friends and other people towards pilot career choice and profession in general is studied in this research. Despite the fact that women reached aviation approximately at the same time as men, the profession of pilot is still male dominated (NealЃ]Smith & Cockburn, 2009) and female pilots are surrounded with stereotypes and prejudices(Walton & Politano, 2014). However, the number of girls choosing a pilot career arises each year. For example, according to enrollment orders of Saint Petersburg State University of Civil Aviation, the number of female students has grown twice during last three years. That is why gender is a crucial point of this research.

Research questions of the study are as follows:

RQ1: What are the motivations for choosing a profession of pilot of male and female students?

RQ2: What do male and female students expect to achieve in the future on their career ladder?

RQ3: What attitudes do male and female students have towards the profession of pilot?

RQ4: What are the attitudes of people towards male and female career choice and profession in general?

In order to answer these research questions qualitative methodology was chosen. Data for analysis consists of 22 semi-structured interviews with open questions conducted both personally and via social networks and messengers. Participants were randomly chosen from those who are students of Saint Petersburg State University of Civil Aviation and have an educational program of civil aviation pilot. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded and analyzed afterwards in the research.

1. Literature review

Career motivations

Motivations for choosing a military specialty was studied by Ekaterina Karlova. Results showed that the most popular motivations are mastering the profession of interest, desire to make an officer's career, guaranteed employment in the Military Forces, prestige of military education, opportunity in the future to show courage and heroism in extreme situations, formation of valuable personal qualities. Less important motivations are ability to work with military equipment, high wages, the opportunity to get a popular profession, the continuation of the family tradition, instruction of relatives / friends, accidental coincidence (Karlova, 2018).

According to London's motivation theory, career motivations may be divided into “individual characteristics with corresponding situational characteristics and career decisions and behaviors” each of this domain contains even more subdomains which are interrelated. (London, 1983). This research is mostly based on this theory.

Moreover, career achievement was compared between man and women. Results of the study revealed that nowadays there are almost no differences between males and females in terms of their achievement motivation which related to changes in society. However, there are huge number of sectors where women are under-represented. These industries need to focus more on social interactions at work supporting and inspiring women for participation (Rocha & Praag, 2020).

As for the challenges and difficulties, all the career related barriers may be analyzed through social cognitive career theory which components are goal setting, outcome expectations and self-efficacy or an attribution theory according to which barriers are perceived as external obstacles. Therefore, the strategies of coping with difficulties may differ as well varying from trying to change the environment or adjust to existing conditions even if they are not pleasant (Albert & Luzzo, 1999).

A study of seafarers' career motivations revealed that there are both attractive (e.g. good salary, confidence in future and the ability to travel more in comparison with other job) and unattractive (like being far away from close people for too long, high tuition fee or health related issues) factors influencing their choice. Moreover, to choose a particular profession, a person should be not only interested in it, but also well-informed about different aspects of the job (Fernandez Gonzalez et al., 2014). This study may have a lot in common with the sphere of aviation as far aviation is also a well-paid field especially in terms of pilot occupation. Moreover, it also involves an element of travelling, but on the other hand spending a lot of time overseas or in up the air.

Women in Aviation

Women are surrounded with stereotypes and prejudices in aviation sphere. Usually it is related with the opinion that they are more emotional then men and not able for decision-making in situations of high stress. However, some studies revealed that there are no gender differences in terms of air crashes frequency (Bazargan & Guzhva, 2011). Other studies highlighted that there is a difference, but not in number of crashes but rather in types of errors. Female pilots more frequently lose control in flight stages, while male pilots' related accidents are usually happen because of their inattention or making flawed decisions (Baker et al., n.d.).

C. Davey and M. Davidson made a research to compare the experiences of first females entered one of the European airlines with the experiences of those who entered later. Results highlighted that first women pilots in the airline were a novelty and therefore, faced with high visibility and attention, sexism, sometimes even harassment and aggressive behavior, which made them isolate from male-dominated community and culture rather than try to change it or adapt somehow. Authors called such an experience a “rite of passage”. Female pilots who joined the airline later were not so unusual compared to their predecessors, however, they were still a minority and seen as inferior. Despite the acceptance of women, their socializing (trough supporting specific humor and spending time with male colleagues after flight) and becoming a part of an airline, they still have to conform to an existing masculine culture (Davey & Davidson, 2000).

One more reason why there are not so many women in commercial aviation lies in the structure of aviation community that translate cultural sexism. Female pilots are seen as different by their male colleagues, however, the whole system ignores these differences and makes women to adapt to existing social and cultural norms in the sphere which are predominantly masculine. Introduction of role models and mentors for female pilots as well as changing the perception of women in aviation to ordinary instead of extraordinary may change the state of art (NealЃ]Smith & Cockburn, 2009).

As far as aviation is male dominated sphere, there are still some prejudices, stereotypes, gender-related conflicts and atmosphere of sexism towards females. The problem is that such factors may influence mental health and lead to a greater levels of stress, anxiety and even depression (Cohen & Huffman, 2003). However, according to the N's research, there is no such an affect. Authors have suggested that such an effect may be the consequence of female personality characteristics (Walton & Politano, 2014).

Take leading positions in commercial aviation (becoming a captain, attain managerial or instructor positions) for females is even harder than become pilots. However, there are few factors of success that were named by G. Hynes and M. Puckett. These factors are workplace climate reflecting positive attitudes towards female pilots, presence of mentors and holding leadership position in any other sphere, reduction of male resistance, presence of leadership traits and fulfillment which is about career satisfaction (Hynes & Puckett, n.d.). This study was a prerequisite for the emergence of questions about personal traits of pilot and attitudes of people in university towards women pilots in the interview guide.

Germain, Herzog and Hamilton made a research to find out the barriers which women-pilots face with. The results showed that there are different barriers that may be divided into four groups:

· physical (the arrangement of a cockpit which is not accommodate to the women pilots' height that generally is less than males' one)

· less self-efficacy (fear of fail, lack of self-confidence and critical evaluation from others)

· absence of role models and mentors

· women's acceptance (a lot of prejudices about women, even though some of tasks are better done by women rather than men).

Physical barriers are not so common nowadays because cockpit designed more universal and automatization of processes does not require special physical force and skills. However, psychological barriers are still present and the task for solving this problems lies on educational establishments as well as employers (Germain et al., 2012).

2. Methods and Data Collection

Qualitative methodology was chosen for this research as it allows collecting more information about person's life and biography and reconstructing his or her understanding and interpretation of studied phenomenon. Moreover, subjects of these research are complex mental concepts related with decision-making, therefore they are best studied with qualitative methods (Hegde, 2015).

Sampling method

Recruitment of respondents was made through enrollment orders of Saint Petersburg State University of Civil Aviation from 2016 to 2019. This particular university was chosen to gain access to respondents and further interviewing. All the students whose educational program was OFR (Organization of flight work - 5 years of study) or FOCA (Flight operation of civil aircraft - 4 years of study) were added to a data base. After that, they were searched through an official page of university in Vkontakte social network. Of those, who were a member of community and had open profile, students were randomly invited to participate in the research. In sum, there were 33 students who received a message and invitation, 11 of them rejected due to some reasons. Mostly, refusals were related with the absence of time (potential respondents were informed that interview may last about an hour) or just because unwillingness to participate. However, those who agreed actively participated, answered questions, and suggested their help including search for informants. Few respondents were found via a snowball sampling method which suggest that people already participated in research would suggest their friends for participation. Usually, this method is used for sensitive topics, but despite the higher degree of agreement of potential interviewees, this method was not the main for this research. Interviews were collected in 2019 - 2020. Total number of all collected interviews is 22. All the respondents were informed about the voluntariness of participation, as well as about the goals of the research, necessity of making recordings and anonymization of received data.

Instruments

To gain data for research a semi-structured guide was created. Guide was divided into several blocks: socio-demographic information, attitudes towards profession, motivations, enrollment, career expectations, attitudes of others towards profession and career choice. For male respondents one more additional block of questions was created: attitudes towards women in profession. This block included questions about how women are perceived in profession by men. Socio-demographic block consisted of questions about age, city of birth, university grade and questions about hobby. Other blocks were special and included questions about what motivated student to go to the profession, choose university, what do they want to achieve in future and how do people from their environment reacted when they found out that the dream of person is to become a pilot. Depending on the interview flow, additional questions were added or some questions were removed from the guide. Full guide that was used for this research may be found in Appendix 1.

Methods

The main method of this work is semi-structured in-depth leitmotiv interview. It allows collecting information about respondent's biography focusing on a particular sphere of life and exploration and interpretation of it given by interviewee (Belanovskii, 2001).

Interviews were conducted both offline and online. The second way was used for two reasons: in 2019 because part of the students was absent in Saint Petersburg because they were on flight practice, in 2020 online interviewing was made due to coronavirus infection which requires social distancing.

Online interviews were collected via social networks and messengers (VKontakte, Telegram, Skype) in form of audio or video calls. Duration of personal interviews collected both online and offline is from 30 to 90 minutes.

Moreover, there were few informants refused from interview in form of calls. They were suggested to answer questions using the most preferable for them method. 2 interviewees recorded their answers as text, 5 used voice messages to answer. These data also was taken into account as far as number of respondents was limited.

To anonymize interviews, each of them was coded using letters from A to L for male respondents and numbers from 1 to 10 for females. Second figure in both interview codes represents the age of interviewee.

Interviews were recorded and transcribed afterwards. Further analysis was made with open and axial coding that suggests allocation and further analysis of codes and categories. This way of analysis allows organizing data, as well as identifying specific relationships and context in each interview (Dudina & Smirnova, 2014). Open and axial coding was partly made with QDA Miner software. Received codes formed the basis for analysis of motivations and related concepts.

Collected Data

In sum, 22 interviews were collected: 10 of them with female and 12 with male respondents. Age of participants varies from 18 to 28 years. General information about interviews may be found in Table 1.

Table 1. Information about interviews.

Interview code	Type of interview	Interview code	Type of interview
A, 21	audio call	1, 19	face-to-face
B, 21	audio call	2, 20	voice messages
C, 21	audio call	3, 21	voice messages
D, 18	audio call	4, 21	face-to-face
E, 20	audio call	5, 19	face-to-face
F, 20	text messages	6, 21	voice messages
G, 20	audio call	7, 21	text messages
H, 22	audio call	8, 20	voice messages
I, 22	audio call	9, 20	voice messages
J, 19	video call	10, 22	face-to-face
K, 21	audio call
L, 28	audio call

3. Results

Beginning of a passion for aviation

Involvement and identification with a career is an individual factor influencing a career decision. Those who had hobby related to aviation have in general higher career motivation than those who have chosen this profession for other reasons. These people often choose company-sponsored education and therefore, at the time of applying documents, their choice is only one university because they have a guarantee they will be accepted. Those who came to the university may be divided into three main groups: (i) surrounded by aviation since childhood, (ii) decided to connect life with planes accidently inspired by someone's story, life accident or artwork, and (iii) the mixed type.

Those who have family members or close friends related to aviation industry are `into the sky' since their childhood. They are surrounded with aviation related books, movies, people, conversations and lifestyle in general. All these factors leave no choice for choosing another job because that is what seems interesting for a person. It may be called a professional dynasty that is a widespread trajectory in choosing profession when youngsters follow the career path of their parents and choose the same occupation or sphere of work. What is important, respondents highlighted that that was fully their choice and there was no pressure from their parents.

“Well, all my life ... I had the thought that I would go to aviation, because my father is a pilot, and no other option was considered. That is, it is like continuity. All my life I have been looking at this work with him, flying with him, and, accordingly, in principle, I did not have thoughts of any other profession.” (B, 21)

“As I have already told, my dad is a pilot, also my mom was a cabin crew <…> I plan, well… Already follow dad's footsteps. He is an aircraft commander now.” (9, 20)

Another trajectory of aviation hobby started when there were no people in environment who were at least somehow related to aviation. Here, only several people marked that the idea to become a pilot came at early childhood, for most of such respondents the time when they began familiar with sphere and decided to enter profession was at the end of the school. Here, the gap between male and female students may be seen in contrast with the previous group. Female respondents who have not aviation related people around them explained that the idea to become a pilot was something unrealistic because they were not aware of such a possibility for women.

For both male and female students who have not got relatives and friends in aviation industry, there was a point in time when they become aware of profession. The image of profession had been created after watching movies or TV series where a pilot profession was represented in some form. Others explained that they just have read about profession and decided that they want to try to attain it. Some of students were inspired by someone's example.

“Well, I wanted to be a pilot from childhood in fact, well, maybe, from three years old, well, as it seemed to me. The reason I do not know, for real. But I'm always joking, half joking, I say that ... Do you know the show's “Krutoe pike”? And so, I watched it in childhood and really loved it.” (E, 20)

“Actually, I don't know… It's very, very prosaic how I came to the flying club. I met my childhood friend and fell in love <…> And I went there only because of a nice boy. I came there and forgot about his existence. Because it was very, very cool, very much.” (5, 19)

The third type are those whose decision to become a pilot was done under the mixed factors like being aware of profession and its benefits and from the other hand having aviation related (but not civil aviation pilots) people in their environment:

“Then I just came home, searched for the top paid and top demanded professions on the Internet. And there, in second place after the programmer, was a pilot. And at the same time, my father, well, for himself, learned as a private pilot. <...> And my friend entered the first course of my university when I was in the ninth grade. So, accordingly, the complex of all these things has led me to the fact that I want to study as a pilot.” (A, 21)

“My passion for aviation began in childhood, because since childhood I have been flying a lot. Well, in principle, this was what attracted me, just the structure itself, so to say, the unusual thing that such a large iron bird rises into the sky. There are no pilots in my family, no one. <...>. In general, I realized that I want to be a pilot in about five years. I just liked the profession itself, the romance of the sky. Well, the technology of work is quite interesting. So, in the tenth grade, I already knew exactly where I want to go.” (2, 20)

Attitudes towards profession

In the previous block there was a point about being aware of profession of pilot and its advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, some occupations require special skills or personal traits from potential workers. Students were asked about their own representation of profession of pilot based on attractive and unattractive factors as well as personal characteristics necessary for a pilot.

Among attractive factors there were high salaries, an ability to travel around the world, learn new cultures and meet new people, opportunity to do what one love, enjoy the beauty of sky and constantly improve knowledge and skills:

“I like the essence of the fact that you are not very attached to a certain place, that is, you are not sitting in the office, but traveling. If you are lucky, you travel around the world, that is, on international routes, you will be accommodated in good hotels, you will relax, you will learn many cultures. And prestige, still a pilot is such a high-profile profession.” (C, 21)

Here, female informants explained in more details in their narratives that profession brings positive emotions because there is a romance and beauty in it:

“Well, because there is an amazing view from the cockpit, and you see what you do not see when you fly as an ordinary passenger. That is, you see, for example, that a plane flew above you, from the side, from below. I don't know ... And it is very beautiful! And this is amazing!” (8, 20)

Male students mentioned such advantages of work as stability, high salary and prestige:

“Well, and it (profession) is therefore considered elitist, but among them, among just employees. <...> So, firstly, it is enough salary, well, not enough ... high, but just, well, a good salary, firstly.” (A, 21)

Girls oppositely criticized such a motivation to go to profession:

“- What is the purpose of you being here? - Pilots earn a lot of money - I am so hurt and become angry!” (1, 19)

Of unattractive sides both male and female interviewees highlighted that these are health-related issues, irregular schedule and a large degree of computerization. The second factor is seen as negative because it stops the development and leaves no space for thinking and creativity:

“Well, in principle, this profession, it is without any special over-brain activity, without any notions, inventions or anything like that. Well, do not do something special, but simply follow the instructions, on the one hand.” (I, 22)

“People who are sitting on the controls of the aircraft are not piloting. They are operators who click on buttons and perform some actions according to the instructions.” (5, 19)

Talking about personal traits male and female students have approximately the same list of characteristics that may be used to describe an image of pilot: responsibility, confidence in undertaken actions, ability to make decisions quickly, emotional stability.

“The ability to make decisions and be able to distribute energy (when to cheer up and when to relax). And, of course, such character traits as determination, responsibility, persistence.” (7, 21)

Some of male respondents focused their attention on females' emotionality, however, described that even though women are more emotional than men, during enrollment and study process those who are too emotional are screened out:

“On the other hand, it is the physiological difference between a man and a woman, that women are more emotional than men, for me this is a small problem. I believe that a small problem in the formation of a woman as a pilot.” (B, 21)

Career Expectations

Expectations of future career may strengthen career motivation. This, in turn, may improve performance. To examine what do future male and female pilots expect from their future career airline, type of aircraft, work abroad and career achievements are analyzed in this section.

As for the preferable airline, there are two ways of how future pilots choose it. First trajectory is employer-sponsored education which allows student to enter university with lower State Exam scores, however, requires to work for the company after graduation, usually for 3-5 years. So, those students who have this opportunity, already know that they would with a high probability work for the airline they signed an agreement with. Therefore, those students applied documents to one university and one educational program only, which is not a usual thing among students of other directions who usually try to apply to as many universities as it possible. Gender differences on this stage were not found in interviews:

“Anyway, I will fly for the first time in Russia, because I have a contract with Aeroflot. So, in any case, I will be here for the first time, but I don't know how it will be further.” (8, 20)

Another part of students are those who entered university on a regular basis as contract or government-sponsored students. Their choice of airline for future work is based on analysis of Russian airlines in terms of salary, working conditions, location of airline hubs etc.:

“Well, of course, I would like to have a better company, in which ... Which will suit in terms of the work schedule, and so on, and the city in which it is based.” (6, 21)

“Yes, of course, damn it, I am already targeting two airlines - Ural Airlines and Pobeda. There are the highest salaries for co-pilots in Pobeda, and in Ural Airlines, well, my uncle works here, and he tried a lot of companies and says that the best climate for workers is there. <...> Well, or S7, because S7 gives a gigantic base to leave Russia.” (C, 21)

Those who are going to become a commercial pilot either do not have specific goals and dreams about aircraft types or mark that they would prefer modern aircrafts like Boeing/Airbus or other types of planes like turboprop or supersonic aircrafts:

“I want to fly Boeing B737 as well as my sister. At the left place, of course.” (4, 21)

“747 or 777, this, of course, is a dream. I wouldn't refuse a Superjet either, the main thing is to fly. But then I would like to fly on turboprops on the An-24.” (J, 19)

Talking about career, there is a part of students who would like to work abroad because of higher salaries, better working conditions, gaining new experience and learning new culture:

“My dream is to work in South Korea, it would be nice. I'm just in love with this country.” (4, 21)

“I would like to work in Germany on air cargo.” (F, 20)

Talking about the duration of pilot career there are those who are going to be pilots as long as it possible:

“Well, God bless, it will not be soon. I rather want to spend my life there as long as possible. Well, I wouldn't mind if it ended there.” (J, 19)

For female pilots, their career path may be disrupted by family and childcare issues. Here, female students have different positions. Ones explain that there is nothing hard and unusual in combining family and pilot job:

“I hope that I will have a family in the future. And I do not think that there will be problems with this, because I have a lot of examples of my father's colleagues, girls who live well with their husbands and at the same time work.” (8, 20)

Others do believe that a profession of pilot requires focus on work only:

“In general, I believe that if you go to aviation, then you should think only about aviation. Here it is. I do not want a family, I do not want children…” (2, 20)

Then, there is a part of male students who would like to attain a managerial position in future:

“I want either take a managerial position in some existing airlines or the Federal Air Transport Agency, or open my own airline, or go with a friend to the airline. Well, also in a managerial position.” (A, 21)

Others told that once they see themselves as pilot-instructors or university teachers, however, no one told that is the highest career goal.

Finally, there are those who would prefer to change their qualification among both male and female students. This career plan is related either with disappointment in profession or just a willingness to try something new but keep aviation as a hobby. These respondents told about their dream to fly on small aircrafts (like sport ones) to feel the flight:

“I will graduate and I hope I will go somewhere even to a distant learning as a physiotherapist or something like that.” (5, 19)

“Because, as I said, piloting at some point disappoints. <...> I think I will become a programmer after piloting. I don't know, 10 years, maybe I'll work somewhere so that I'll have enough for retirement.” (C, 21)

In terms of career expectations, each student has his or her own image of how their future will look like. Some of them plan to continue their work and already have a strict plan. Others see their future uncertain, however, also have some precise dreams. There is also a number of students who would like to be pilots just as their hobby and after graduation change their specialty. In terms of gender differences in future expectations, the only one that appeared was related to contribution to managerial positions, which was assigned as a goal by male respondents and was not stated at all by female ones.

Attitudes of people towards profession and career choice

Attitudes of people from the environment may be important for young people while making life decisions such as career choice. Every person has his or her own circle of people who can be called significant others and which opinion is very important for that person.

All the interviewees were asked about what reaction they faced with from their close people (like friends and family) and people from the environment (teachers, instructors, classmates, new people etc). As for the friends and family, answers fell into two groups. First one is about positive attitudes and support:

“My family supported my choice when I told them, well, when I told them that. As for friends ... <...> I have very few friends and, of course, they supported me.” (2, 20)

“Supported, wished a good luck. I guess, yes. I regard this profession as a routine now. But for them it was some kind of surprise.” (K, 21)

Two respondents (one male and one female) shared their experience which was negative both from their family and friends. Both students are from non-aviation related families:

“It actually happened to me that both my family and friends were against it. And if my parents tried to make some logical, from their point of view, arguments, my friends simply did not understand why I want to be a pilot and even… I don't know, judged me. And with all my love, the lack of support was the most difficult thing on my way. Now they seem to calm down, probably, they understood that I am not going to give up” (10, 22)

“Well, they took it with hostility basically. On the paternal side, everyone. That is, for 3 years in a row, when I talked with my father, when I talked with my father's parents, they just persuaded me not to go to the pilot all the time, they said: “The pilot is a tractor driver, this is an air taxi driver. You will go to a flight school, it will be the same as you will study as a tractor driver. This is a terrible and bad job.” But then they already realized that this is the best job in the world. Because it is hard to convince me in opposite.” (J, 19)

Moreover, there are other people whose opinion may influence motivation increasing or decreasing it. Usually `non-aviation' people have either romantic beliefs about profession of pilot and highlighting its benefits such as high salary, ability to travel around the world, live in luxurious hotels etc. or otherwise thinking that this profession is mostly about doing nothing and pushing buttons:

“Ones think heroes. Others think that there are drunkards, gouges, and so on. Well, here is the third opinion, probably that ... Yes, and that they get a lot of money. And the third opinion, probably that they do nothing. They get a lot of money, but computers do everything for them.” (L, 28)

“Well, there is such actually, some surprise not quite clear to me right now, that: Wow, do you really exist? I mean, for many people, for some reason, the profession of a pilot is associated almost with the space.” (I, 22)

When those people hear that male have chosen this profession, they usually react positive or neutral:

“Usually, it is positive reaction, an interest immediately appears. As a rule, if you are in a new company, you can immediately tell about something related.” (G, 20)

Reaction for girl's choice to be a pilot may be described as either neutral, but more often it is extraordinary or even negative:

“For some reason, these reproaches about the fact that “you are a woman, where you go?” - these are people who generally are not related to aviation. Absolutely. And it always struck me like that.” (1.19)

Female students were also asked about the atmosphere in university and attitudes of male groupmates and teachers/instructors towards women in profession. Mostly, there is no sexism and oppression towards female students and female pilots in general according with femal informants. However, they stated that there are few people both among teachers and groupmates who may give dismissive comments or joke on that topic somehow. Girls told that they try not to pay attention on that because the number of such statements is small:

“In general, good. Support, help. But, of course, there are one or two fools who will say that this profession is not for girls, what do you forget here. But this is rather the exception, because generally the boys are great, they treat us well. How do teachers relate? Also good. Yes, as well as the guys. There are those who are more loyal, there are those who, on the contrary, say: You are a girl, you should know more.” (6, 21)

Attitudes towards women (male's view)

Male interviewees were additionally asked about their attitudes toward women in profession. All of respondents stated that they have neutral or positive relationship towards girls in aviation:

“I have a very positive attitude towards girls, because it seems to me that the girls are not just the same pilots as we are, and they can also fulfill their duties, they are even better suited to this profession, because you have such an intuition, which is very important to the pilot, she flies ahead of the plane.” (J, 19)

Still, there were comments that allow to understand that female pilots are still treated differently in comparison with their male counterparts:

“In the sense that there is such a topic as the moment of stress. And it is not known how anyone will behave. Probably, it is statistically believed that a man is less susceptible to stress. But, again, this is statistics and this, well, that is, it is all individual. You have to be very careful if you say this to women in general, and especially to a girl who is now passionate about the piloting profession.” (G, 20)

On the contrary, even though women pilots are not a novelty, opinion of some people is very sexists. Usually, it is more seen in social networks where people feel free to share their opinions and, moreover, usually these people are not aviation related:

“A person did not take a single drop of time to see how much they study as pilots, what the average age of young pilots is, like he did not pay attention to anything, but he knows for sure that at 24 she obviously sucked for the position, of course.” (D, 18)

Teachers in university from male students' point of view, fall into two group: those who support female students and those who vice versa asks for more from female students arguing that it will be more difficult for female students in the future. Same opinion had female respondents:

“The attitude towards everyone from the group is equally positive. But there are vantages or concessions from some teachers, but not to say that it's straight strong, just a softer attitude.” (F, 20)

“Well, here's something, some kind of thing sometimes happens, yes, like: “Girl where do you ran into is not your profession at all.” (I, 22)

Instructors, according to male students, may add extra flying hours for female students even though both male and female students fly equally. However, no one of female respondents have stated that:

“And there, on practice, there were six girls in total with Krasnoyarsk and ours. 4 of them were in additional practice, they flew for 60 hours instead of 45. Although there, well, like, everything fell smoothly-crookedly on this runaway at the start and just because of some prejudices, the guys treated like: “Well, who didn't fall?” Girls treated like: “No, I'm not letting her fly alone.” (C, 21)

pilot profession career men

Conclusion

This research was made to understand if there any difference between males and females when they enter a profession of pilot. At the beginning of their path it is more than ever necessary to be supported and motivated not to give it up especially if there are some difficulties appear.

Motivations and career expectations of future pilots both male and female are diverse. It is hard to say that there is a difference in how they went into profession. Most frequent trajectory if following parents' career path. Parents become a mentor for their children making them familiar with the sphere, features of profession, its benefits and possible disadvantages. Moreover, they usually support a professional choice and help to get into profession. A huge part of such students study as company-sponsored ones. Those who have not got family members in airlines came to the profession because they have found it interesting and promising.

By the time students enter a university which is a first step to the pilot career for most of them, they already have got an image of the profession and know its key features, advantages and disadvantages. Perception of profession by male and female students is approximately the same. They relate ability to travel, having an interesting job which is frequently their hobby as well, good salary and beauty and romance of profession to attractive factors. Unattractive sides of the profession for most respondents of both genders are: problems with health and irregular schedule. Some students also referred the structure of work that changed nowadays because of computerization and automatization of aviation to factors that have a negative influence on their motivation. However, no one of respondents told he or she wanted to give up aviation.

Part of interviewed students are going to work as commercial pilots and fly modern planes. All of them, both male and female future pilots told that their nearest career goal is to find a good airline and become a captain. Then they see themselves as currently flying pilots (either in Russian airlines or abroad), instructors, teachers or managers in aviation field. Some of the students described their dream to requalify to another profession but leave aviation as a hobby doing flights on small aircrafts.

Analysis of peoples' relationship to pilot job highlighted that, in general, people have either neutral or positive attitudes towards this profession of pilot. However, their relationship towards the choice of such a profession by men and women differs. Talking about males, they are usually treated as consistent with this occupation. Therefore, the reaction of society when they face a male future pilot is rather positive. On the contrary, there are female students who are going to become pilots. Even though there are women in Russian airlines who work as pilots and even captains, women are still treated as something extraordinary by non-aviators. This unfamiliarity with the fact that females may hold such a position leads to interest but more often to negative reaction. Good examples of such an attitude are presented in social media. Usually those commentators are people who fly by planes as passengers sometimes, but do not have knowledge about aviation industry and its features. However, female respondents pointed out that they try not to pay attention to such comments and opinions, because it is silly and pointless to respond to inadequate people.

Exploration of atmosphere inside the industry and attitudes of aviators towards women led to conclusions about acceptance of females by their male colleagues. Each new year the number of girls entering a profession rises up. The same trend is observed in airlines, where a number of female pilots arises allowing women to attain new career goals including larger types of aircrafts, becoming captains, instructors, airline representatives and so on. Russian case is interesting because, for instance, now there is only one woman captain who flies Boeing-777 (one of three widebody types of aircrafts that Russian airlines own). This is a new height for women in Russian aviation industry. In comparison, in other countries this is a more common option. Slowly, but this situation is changing which results in the absence of visible barriers for women acceptance. However, the inside aviation culture still reproduces gender-related stereotypes. Mostly, it is done by older aviators who came to aviation when it was closed for women and who is conservative to accept new reality. Moreover, male students see their female counterparts differently, prescribing them qualities that may be both helpful and disruptive for their becoming a pilot (like intuition or emotionality).

This research may clarify motivations of future pilots for choosing a profession which is an unstudied topic in Russian scientific field. Moreover, there are not so many studies about women's position in aviation nowadays. Making female pilots visible and discussing problems they may face, may increase awareness of women about profession of pilot, their motivation for new heights achievement and bring changes to organizational culture (NealЃ]Smith & Cockburn, 2009).

Moreover, this research highlighted that there are changes in how women are treated in such a male-dominated sphere. No cases of discrimination or harassment were presented by respondents. Even though attitudes towards females in aviation changes slowly, it is still a male-dominated and patriarchal sphere (Zheng, n.d.).

However, this research also has limitations. Firstly, this is the case of students who study in Saint-Petersburg university. There are four more educational establishments in Russia where students may become pilots, three of them are colleges where the age of students differs from the age of those who were a focus of this study. Moreover, there are some students in colleges who came to aviation after getting higher education and even working experience not related to aviation. Their motivations may differ a lot. Furthermore, the only way to measure the result of motivation and involvement of students into the profession is to look at their goals achievement. Here, in this research it is possible to see only one goal which all the respondents achieved - entering a university. Including in this research those people who for some reason did not pass may broaden the research. Also, this study may be turned into a longitudinal one with interviewing the same people few years after their graduation and asking about their career progress. Finally, when we talk about women in aviation, we need to understand that they may have personal traits that differ from ones that their non-aviation-related counterparts have. Therefore, some psychological testing and comparison with non-aviation career trajectories may be added to improve research.

References

1. Albert K.A., Luzzo D.A. (1999). The Role of Perceived Barriers in Career Development: A Social Cognitive Perspective. Journal of Counseling & Development, 77(4), 431-436.

2. Baker S.P., Lamb M.W., Grabowski J.G., Rebok G., Li G. (n.d.). Characteristics of General Aviation Crashes Involving Mature Male and Female Pilots. 7.

3. Bazargan M., Guzhva V.S. (2011). Impact of gender, age and experience of pilots on general aviation accidents. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 43(3), 962-970.

4. Belanovskii S.A. (2001). Glubokoe interviu. Nikkolo-Media.

5. Cohen P.N., Huffman M.L. (2003). Individuals, Jobs, and Labor Markets: The Devaluation of Women's Work. American Sociological Review, 68(3), 443.

6. Davey C.L., Davidson M.J. (2000). The Right of Passage? The Experiences of Female Pilots in Commercial Aviation. Feminism & Psychology, 10(2), 195-225.

7. Fernandez Gonzalez M.J., Semjonovs D., Bogdanecs A., Ozola S. (2014). Youngsters' motivations and difficulties for choosing seafarer career. the case of latvia. European Integration Studies, 0(8), 131-140.

8. Germain M.-L., Herzog M.J.R., Hamilton P.R. (2012). Women employed in male-dominated industries: Lessons learned from female aircraft pilots, pilots-in-training and mixed-gender flight instructors. Human Resource Development International, 15(4), 435-453.

9. Hynes G.E., Puckett M. (n.d.). Feminine leadership in commercial aviation: Success stories of women pilots and captains. 6.

10. Karlova E. (2018). Cadets motivation types and their relationship with various indicators of attitude to the military profession. Социологические Исследования, 7, 95-104.

11. London M. (1983). Toward a Theory of Career Motivation. Academy of Management Review, 8(4), 620-630. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1983.4284664

12. NealЃ]Smith S., Cockburn T. (2009). Cultural sexism in the UK airline industry. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 24(1), 32-45.

13. Rocha V., Praag M. (2020). Mind the gap: The role of gender in entrepreneurial career choice and social influence by founders. Strategic Management Journal, 41(5), 841-866.

14. Walton R., Politano P. (2014). Gender-Related Perceptions and Stress, Anxiety, and Depression on the Flight Deck. Aviation Psychology and Applied Human Factors, 4, 67-73.

15. Zheng, J. (n.d.). Female Pilots: Career Experiences and Recruitment Discourses. 80.

Appendix 1

Interview Guide

Дата проведения интервью:

Время проведения интервью:

Место проведения интервью:

Продолжительность интервью:

Информант:

Возраст информанта:

Курс:

Привет! Меня зовут Лиза и я пишу работу о студентах, которые учатся на пилотов гражданской авиации. Мне интересно, чем они живут, чем увлекаются, почему выбрали такую интересную специальность, чего ожидают от будущей профессии и с какими трудностями сталкиваются на своём пути. Для этого мне необходимо взять интервью, которое будет длиться примерно час. Хочу также сказать, что все личные данные анонимны, а полученная в ходе интервью информация анализируется в обобщенном виде. Итак, начнём.

Темы	Микротемы	Вопросы
Общая информация о респонденте	Демография	Сколько тебе лет? На каком курсе ты учишься? А специальность (то есть, сколько лет учиться)?Из какого ты города? Расскажи немного о себе (информация, которую сам респондент считает важной упомянуть).
	Интересы	Есть ли у тебя хобби, которому ты посвящал(-а) или посвящаешь свободное от учебы время?Занимался(-лась) ли ты каким-нибудь спортом? А сейчас продолжаешь? Каким? Когда и с чего началось Ваше увлечение авиацией? Что тебя вдохновляло? + в зависимости от ответа узнать, может быть, с этим связана какая-то история из детства/фильм/или это влияние семьи или друзей) *Узнать про занятия парашютным/самолетным спортом, т.к многие занимались.
Мотивации	Семья	Есть ли в твоей семье люди, связанные с авиацией? Кто? Кем они работают? В какой компании? Планируешь ли ты пойти по их стопам? (тут именно про компанию и направление авиации) Поддерживала ли твоя семья твоё решение и выбор специальности для получения будущей профессии? Что насчёт друзей? Была ли поддержка с их стороны?
	Привлекательные/ непривлекательные стороны профессии	Что тебя привлекает в профессии пилота? + в зависимости от ответов поспрашивать про то, привлекает ли зарплата/возможность путешествовать/любовь к полетам Есть ли какие-то факторы, которые наоборот могут оттолкнуть от этой профессии? Если да, то что это за факторы?

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