Canadian Pilots Gaining Ground in Gender Breakdown

Women Of Aviation Worldwide celebrated the attainment of female licensure in the Canadian market after seeing it climb to 12% in 2023, with 6,354 female-identifying pilots issued by their domestic regulator, Transport Canada. 

The narrow majority of all Canadian licenses were recreational, with 52% coming in at the private pilot level. It's a first step towards future staffing, and a 58% uptick since 2010. 65% of those cards were sent to candidates between 20 and 39 years of age, leaving enough room in their lifetime to hopefully (or so the industry feels) pursue a career in the aviation scene.

In going through the numbers, the Institute for Women Of Aviation Worldwide saw a few more high points in the Canadian data. Contributor Hanna Abdo went through the books to find the very first female to gain a Canadian pilot license in 1928, Eileen Vollick. "Rosella Bjornson was the first Canadian female pilot to be hired by an airline in 1973. Last year," Abdo added, "Canadian women qualified for 13 percent of the new recreational-type pilot licences, 12.3 percent of the new Commercial pilot licences, and 8.1 percent of the new Airline Transport pilot licences. The progress in the commercial sector is particularly impressive. The number of women who received a Commercial or Airline pilot licence soar to 334 last year."

Abdo goes on to note that "It was just 197 15 years ago when iWOAW launched the Fly It Forward Challenge, the world’s first female-specific outreach initiative focused on closing the aviation introduction gender gap. At the time, a boy was more than twice as likely as a girl to be introduced to aviation careers. As iWOAW prepares to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its Fly It Forward® Challenge that made it possible for nearly 73,000 Canadian girls of all ages to visit various aviation industry facilities and facilitated 22,403 first flight experiences for women and girls, the tangible impact of the initiative is uplifting."

FMI: www.iwoaw.org