Women’s perceptions of the aviation workplace: an exploratory study

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory study was to garner a better understanding of the following research question: What factors may contribute to women’s retention in aviation occupations in the United States? The Aviation Occupation Survey was developed drawing from the published literature in organizational retention and diversity in aviation to explore this research question. The survey consisted of 50 Likert-scale items on nine subjects related to career retention. A total of 188 participants (women = 70, men = 118) completed the survey. Results revealed similarities between women and men on perceptions about numerous aspects of their workplace, particularly job satisfaction, professional growth opportunities, challenging work, monetary benefits, non-monetary benefits, work-life balance, management practices, and aviation passion. However, results also revealed women reported significantly greater concerns than men on sexual harassment and gender bias in the workplace. Women also reported feeling less comfortable bringing concerns to management significantly more than men. These findings are consistent with other studies indicating a major obstacle facing women in aviation occupations stems from working in an environment with a pervasive male-dominated culture.