The Future of Women in Aviation: Trends in Participation in Postsecondary Aviation Education

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research, Dec 2010

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the trends in participation by women in postsecondary aviation programs in the United States both at the student and faculty levels. Data concerning the number of students who completed baccalaureate degrees in aviation was collected via the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). It was found that 560 (10.5%) students among the 5,355 total that completed a degree in an aviation related field in 2007 were female. Also, of 434 full-time aviation faculty members employed at 74 different aviation programs meeting the criteria of this study, 35 (8.1%) were found to be female. 84 faculty were identified in an academic leadership positions and of these individuals, 10 (1 1.9%) were women. These participation rates were found to be higher than those found among the aircraft pilot population and in the aviation industry in general. The level of involvement of women in aviation higher education in recent years has shown no significant improvement among students, however, there has been a small increase among faculty in comparison to the findings of four out of five previous studies.

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The Future of Women in Aviation: Trends in Participation in Postsecondary Aviation Education

Page Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research David C. Ison David C. Ison Over the past three decades, the enrollments of women in postsecondary education have grown significantly. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the percentage of undergraduate studentswho are women grew fiom 42.3 in 1970to 56.1 in 2000 (U.S. Department of Education, 2004) . By 2005 this number had risen further to 57.4% (National Center for Education Statistics, 2008) . These figures, however, are averages across all majors and fields of study. Historically, though, there have been certain subjects in which women have lagged such as in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields (Turney, 2004; Babco, 2003) . In particular, women have consistently been underrepresentedthroughout the aviation industry (Hedge, 2007) . The importanceofdiversityin higher educationhas been highlighted by a variety of research (Fassinger, 2008; Umbach, 2006; Lockwood, 2005; Turney, et al, 2002; Willdorf,2000; Brinson and Kottler, 1993;Luedtke, 1993). Thus an assortment of programs and initiatives has been undertaken over the years to improve women and minority representation in general and in specific fields (American Council on Education, 2008; The Sallie Mae Fund, 2008; The White House, 2003; W.K. Kellogg Foundations, n.d.) . Significanteffort has also been put forth to raise the number of women and minorities in the STEM fields (Burke and Mattis, 2007; Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology, 2006; Committee on Equal Opportunity in ScienceandEngineering,2004;Babco,2003) . Furthermore, the Federal government and several private organizations have made concerted efforts to improve participation rates by women and minorities in the aviation industry (Federal Aviation Administration, 2008; The Wolf Aviation Fund, 2008; Federal Aviation Administration, 2007a; Women in Aviation, 2007) . Unfortunately, little research exists that investigateswhether there has been any improvement in the quantity of women moving through the aviation industry supply pipeline, i.e. aviation higher education. This lack of complete and current data exists for all aspects of participation by women in postsecondary aviation. The critical importance of identifLing participation rates of women in postsecondary aviation is exemplified by the fact that college degreeshave essentially become a gatekeeper to the world of professional aviation as the industry in general has come to favor or require this level of education for employment (Hamilton, 2008; U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007; Hanson and Oster, 1997) . Of course this data is also critical to aviation human resources managers because as population demographics continue to change, the industry will have to increasingly rely on the employment of women and minority college graduates (Turney and Maxtant,2004; Hanson and Oster, 1997; Villazon, 1992) . Considering the lack of available data, the efforts that have been put forth to help increase the participation rates of women in aviation, and the importance of diversity to the future of the industry, there is a significant need to quantify and analyze the participation rates of women in aviation higher education. Diversity in the Classroom: Women in Higher Education Although women have never faced the virulent opposition to their inclusion in higher education like that which occurred during desegregation,they were not always welcome in the postsecondary world. In the colonial era, "women were excluded &om colleges by statute" (Thelin, 2004, p. 30) . However, following the creation ofthe United States, women began to make limited progress towards participatingin higher education. "Between 1800 and 1860 at least fourteen institutions enrolled women for advanced studiesin what is thought to have been 'college-level' work" (Thelin, 2004, p. 55) . This was followed by the opening of the first women's colleges during the mid 19thcentmy. Yet much of women's educationduringthis period took place in normal schools which were designed primarily to produce educators for the nation's youth (Thelin, 2004) . The next significant change for women in higher education did not take place until after the Civil War when they were finally allowed to attend institutions side-by-side with men. Yet, according to Thelin (2004) , even though women were accepted in a coeducational habitat, the education they received was not always equal. Even in light of these challenges, women attended schools in record numbers vastly helping the growth and support of women's collegesas well as laying the foundations for both curricular and extracurricular focuses related to women's interests at other institutions (Thelin,2004) . During the early part of the 20" century, the "proportion of women students grew slowly, fiom 32 to 37 percent (1890-1913), but the proportion of women in coeducational i (...truncated)


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David C. Ison. The Future of Women in Aviation: Trends in Participation in Postsecondary Aviation Education, Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research, 2010, Volume 19, Issue 3,