Pakistani women pilots defy odds to close gender gap

Pilot Azka Malik sits in the cockpit of a Cessna aircraft in Karachi, Pakistan, on March 7, 2023. (AN Photo)

• Globally, women make up around 7 percent of commercial pilots — in Pakistan it is even less
• Country’s growing band of female pioneers say concept of aviation being men-only now ‘obsolete’

KARACHI: After four years of training to become a commercial pilot, Azka Malik is entering the male-dominated industry, where she and her colleagues are trying to pave the way for other women.
Globally, women make up around 7 percent of commercial pilots, according to Women in Aviation International data. Although the percentage in Pakistan is not exactly known, the number is much lower.
“All around the world, there are less than 7 percent pilots who are women. And in Pakistan the ratio is further lower, which is obviously a very big challenge for us girls to come out here,” Malik, 23, told Arab News as she sat in the cockpit of a Cessna aircraft at her aviation school on Tuesday.
She recently graduated from the Sky Wing academy in Karachi and is now entering the profession, undeterred by the challenges she may face as a woman in pursuing her career.
“The freedom you feel when you’re in the aircraft, when you fly in the sky, it’s amazing. It’s like no other experience in this world,” she said.
“There are a lot more women who are joining this field now, so things are progressing, things are getting better.”
Women are also already present at the forefront of mechanical support and aircraft maintenance.
Komal Khalid, a 25-year-old technician and also a Sky Wing graduate, believes that women have proven that aircraft maintenance is not only a man’s job.
“Definitely it is a tough field but it is not that women can’t do it. We are present and are doing it, in front of you,” she said. “There is no work in the world that only a man can do. This thinking is getting obsolete.”
For another aircraft maintenance technician, Subhana Anwer, 25, the job was neither a male nor female field but one for those who can go through the thick science texts needed to master it.
“Being an aviation maintenance as a career, it takes a lot of studying, it takes a lot of hard work,” she said.
“If I speak from my heart about aviation, it takes a lot of work. It’s not easy. There’s a lot of studying to be done. There is a lot of late-night work. There is hardship ... and, you know, honestly, it takes a lot of grit and how much you’re willing to put in.”
More women are up for the challenge.
Sky Wings has trained 25 pilots and 42 aircraft technicians since 2019. Out of them, seven pilots and 22 technicians were women. There are eight other aviation academies like Sky Wings in Pakistan.
“We have trained several women pilots, engineers and technicians in the aviation industry and now they are successfully working in different airlines within Pakistan and abroad,” Imran Aslam Khan, the school’s chief executive, told Arab News.
“We believe that until the time we bring in women in all the industries, no country can progress.”