Although womens' roles in the history of aviation (and every day that goes past adds another day to the history of aviation!) are not as ignored as they once were, there can never be enough resources that share what these women pilots accomplish in their life.
Thus, the Women Aviators Wiki, which is -- or rather will be -- a central repository for information about women in aviation.
My original intent with Winged Victory: Women in Aviation was to create such a database here, but Women Fly (a company that produces T-shirts emblazoned with the faces of great women pilots) beat me to it, and rather than now try to compete with them, I've decided to embrace their wiki wholeheartedly - and all profiles that at one point I would have put here, I will now be putting there.
The joy about a wiki, however, is that anyone can contribute to it, and it is so easy to contribute - 100% more easy than creating web pages for a webzine for example.
Which is why I'm encouraging everyone who reads this page to contribute to it. Here's the link again: www.womenaviators.org/wiki.
If you are a pilot - a student pilot, someone who only manages to fly once a year, if you used to fly but can't anymore because of the choking regulations and rising cost, whatever - if you were a pilot, your story deserves to be in the Women Aviators Wiki, to provide inspiration to those who come after you.
Why? Well, back when aviation first got started, women had to move heaven and earth in order to fly, and 6% of them did. Today, when those old societal barries have been pretty much removed, the percentage of women in aviation is still only 6%.
Which means that those women who get out and get their wings are unique, and special, and their story deserves to be told. Because anyone who wants to can fly a plane - when it comes to skill and ability. It's just that certain adventurous spirit that pilots have that other people don't.
(Of course, I believe that the all-invasive and persuasive media (TV shows, movies, but most egregiously advertisements) that persists to this day in portraying women as nothing but sex objects, must share much of the blame in stunting women's growth in the adventurous realms.)
Be that as it may, the struggle continues. So fly on over to the Women Aviators Wiki and start learning about the careers of some marvelous women.
|