MILWAUKEE — In a bid to inspire young girls and foster their interest in an aviation career, Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport hosted the ninth annual Girls in Aviation Day on Saturday.
Right now, the vast majority of people in the field are men. According to the Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide, only about 5-6% of pilots for the world’s largest airlines are women. On the executive side, only 8% of the top 100 airline CEOs are women.
Anna Canales and her sister Daliyla Canales are part of the fifty-some girls exploring the world of aviation and aerospace.
“It’s really cool,” said Anna Canales.
Daliyla Canales said her dream one day is to become an aircraft maintenance engineer since she was ten years old.
“I always wanted to help like build, craft or fix any kind of airplane or helicopter,” said Daliyla Canales.
Dreams like this weren’t available to women back in the day. Longtime flight attendant Hope Frank knows.
“The doors are opening for women,” said Frank. “It’s fabulous. It’s an opportunity that wasn’t available, maybe even 10 years ago.”
Hope talked to the young women about how the opportunities are endless for women now and not limited as it once was.
“Flight attendants used to be women-only,” said Frank. “You had to have a nursing degree, you had to be 35 or younger, and you could not be married back in the day.”
Pat Rowe, Director of Air Service Development for Mitchell International Airport and private pilot, said this is a passion project for her.
“I just fell in love with aviation and it’s important to me that girls understand what’s available to them in a career they might not think about because it’s not their everyday life,” said Rowe.
Rowe is the first female operations manager and director of air service development for the airport alongside another colleague.
“I think women are underrepresented in aviation because it’s always been a career that has always brought up more males through military service, and it was seen as a more male-dominated profession back-in-the-day,” said Rowe.
With boundless opportunities in aviation, Rowe believes that young girls can explore careers that allow them the opportunity to travel the world, contribute to medical advancements, and drive progress in various scientific fields.
While women in aviation continue to be underrepresented, Rowe hopes this trend will shift.
“As years have gone by, it’s been wonderful to see more women just taking on the challenge,” said Rowe.
It’s an effort to inspire the next generation of women in aviation to take flight.