Why aren't more women airline pilots?

I don't think money is the problem here. In Germany, Lufthansa, the largest airline and has the following model: the pilot program takes 24 months. Students have to pay 60k Euro which the get pre-financed by Lufthansa interest free. The have to pay it back once they get a job at Lufthansa (entry salary 60k/year). If they don't get a Lufthansa job within 5 years they don't have to pay it back. So basically, there is very little financial risk and the job is very well paid. They even give a job guarantee after pregnancy.

Still the female pilot ratio is less than 5 percent.

Perhaps because the pay is shitty?

"she began her airline career with a regional carrier, where the starting salary can be less than $20,000 a year for a first officer"

I guess the real question, given that the article mentions up to $100k costs for training (unless you go for the government subsidized route - i.e. the military), is why is anyone an airline pilot?

Anecdote: the first time I ever had a captain was about 10 years ago on a Thai Air flight. (Bangkok to Chiang Mai.)

Since then, I've had a female captain on precisely 3 other flights (Laos Air, Thai Air, and United Express). This is out of probably 600-700 flights.

(And to those who are wondering, "are you sure you didn't miss any", I suspect you've never had a female captain. It turns out it's almost impossible to NOT notice a female captain's voice on the PA, because it's so unusual.)

Take an industry which has a geeky enthusiast appeal very similar to that of IT. Then add in huge barriers to entry which make it very difficult for those not wholly committed to a long term career as a pilot to be considered.

I'd argue three reasons.

First, airlines usually recruit military pilots, since the government was kind enough to invest $500k or more to train them as pilots.

Second, the era of airline pilots being a glamorous job is over. When major airlines add pilots, they usually come from a layoff pool.

Third, mothers are usually primary caregivers for their children. The schedule for a pilot is awful relative to the level of education required. It only really works if your spouse is in a job with very flexible hours.

Haven't read TFA and I'm not going to because the answer seems obvious. I'd say this is mainly because a huge portion of (at least older) pilots were in the air force/navy and historically (unsure about now) women weren't flying in the air force/navy. The military is still pretty much a "men's world" and I think its probably the last place in society that we'll see an equal number of men and women on each task. Is it right? No, but that's what it is.

Why aren't more men florists?

Dumb question. It is a short sighted question. This same question exists in most fields. Why aren't there more women fill_in_the_blank?

Why aren't there more women engineers? Why aren't there more women politicians? Why aren't there more women programmers? Why aren't there more women executives?

Women's interests and their own culture, from childhood to college, drive them to the occupations they want.

I always assumed it was because women are lousy drivers and the stakes are much higher when you get behind the wheel of a plane... duck