Female pilot calls out male passengers' sexist comments in viral tweet
A pilot’s tweets about the sexism she faces on the job has gone viral.
Identified only as “Charlotte,” the professional flier took to Twitter to call out two male passengers for remarks they made on a flight over the weekend. Though Charlotte said she wasn’t “offended” or “disheartened” by their sexist reactions to a woman being at the controls, she did say she was “saddened by the fact that this is the attitude some still have, and think it is OK to make these comments to women.”
She shared that the men in question joked about her ability to fly the plane, trotting out stereotypes about “female drivers.”
Charlotte brushed off the comments until another female crew member raised the issue.
Being used to this kind of humour, my reaction of course was to be professional, laugh and ask them if they were enjoying the flight. It wasn't unit later when a cabin crew member expressed her anger at the comment that it made me think. Why is this normal?
— Charlotte (@pilotcharlotte) May 20, 2018
Upon further reflection, she realized that comments like these can hurt women and discourage them from pursuing careers in aviation.
“It is this attitude that puts women off and another barrier stopping them from going into male-dominated careers,” Charlotte added in a follow-up tweet. “It shouldn’t even be a thing!!! I am a pilot, he is a pilot. See, there is no difference.
“I didn’t get where I am today by listening to these kinds of comments,” she continued.
Her Twitter thread, which now has more than 74,000 likes, drew supportive responses. Some commenters shared their own experiences with workplace sexism, especially in traditionally male-dominated industries.
My wife’s a pilot, every time she flies she gets a ‘well done dear’ or similar from holidaymakers.
None of the troops she flew into Bastion or Kandahar felt the need to patronise her.— Dan? (@DanoDXB) May 20, 2018
This is was the Captains response when he found out
— Charlotte (@pilotcharlotte) May 20, 2018
?♀?never has an emoji been more appropriate
— Charlotte (@pilotcharlotte) May 20, 2018
Thank you Ruth
— Charlotte (@pilotcharlotte) May 20, 2018
thanks James
— Charlotte (@pilotcharlotte) May 21, 2018
Her tweets came just over a month after Southwest captain and Navy veteran Tammie Jo Shults was praised for safely landing Flight 1380 after an engine blew mid-flight. Shults was one of the first women to fly a fighter jet.
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