Ethnography paper

Research Design:
After reading the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack”, by Peggy McIntosh, I felt that her opening paragraph really summed up how I feel about women’s role in society today. I’ve had a hard time trying to decide if men do or do not want women to be considered equal to them, but after reading McIntosh’s article I realize that yes, men do want women to be high in society and be privileged, but they are not willing to sacrifice their own privileges as men to grant women these equal rights.

Methodology:
Based on McIntosh’s article, I decided to interview and observe my flight instructor, Jennifer Pekar, from Houston. I figured that a woman in aviation would be a great person to interview because aviation is a male dominated field. I was interested to see how men treated her, so I first interviewed her and then I rode along during two of her flight lessons with male students.

Interview Questions:
1. Do you feel that you being a pilot intimidate men?
A: Sometimes, but the ones who don’t respect me don’t often stick around. Actually most men are excited to have a woman instructor because they believe that women are more nurturing and won’t yell at them or make them feel nervous.

2. You say that some men don’t respect you, how do you gain respect in aviation?
A: Confidence. If men see that you are confident in what you do then they will respect you.

3. What is your experience as a woman pilot?
A: Whenever I would make a mistake in flying it was always quickly passed around and made into a big deal. If a man made a mistake no one thought twice about it. Early on when I was an instructor many men didn’t respect me because I was young and blonde. They thought I didn’t know anything about flying, but when I became my own manager and proved that I know more about flying than any of these men, that’s when they started to take me seriously.

4. Do you believe that men want women to be treated equal in aviation, but they just aren’t willing to give up their own status?
A: I believe that men often look down on women pilots at first because they don’t think they can handle an airplane. Women definitely have to prove themselves and try a lot harder than men, but once they prove that they can do the exact same thing a man does, and often better, that’s when you gain their respect and they are willing to treat you equally.

5. Do you think it will get easier for women to be pilots as time goes on?
A: Yes, it will definitely get easier as many of the older men start to retire. It is often the older men who have the least respect for women because not many women used to fly and these men are stuck in old traditions.

Field Notes:
The first flight I went on with her was with an obviously very wealthy man because he owned a 400,000 dollar plane, several cars, two houses, a boat, and much more. He was also much older than Jennifer. However, when we got up in the air he acted like a student and was very respectful always asking her questions to see if he was doing everything right and always complying with what she told him to do. I found it interesting that she had so much control over this older, very successful man. The second flight I went on was with a man who was studying for his commercial license. When I was talking to him he told me that Jennifer was one of the best instructors that he’s had. He also obeyed what she told him to do, but it seemed to me that she had to try a little harder to seem in control because he would call her “baby” and “kido”. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it can lessen her status as the instructor. After these flights were over, I was talking to one of the guys in the shop and I told him I was an aviation student. He then informed me that I would never get a boyfriend if I tell a guy that I am a pilot because they are intimidated by me. He then asked if I had a boyfriend and when I told him no he said, “see I told you”.

Write Up:
Overall I found that many men respected Jennifer and her status as an instructor. However, I think the fact that she is the teacher forces them to respect her because they are trying to learn from her. It seemed that many of the problems she had as a women occurred early on in her career when she was still learning. After becoming a well-known instructor it seemed that most of the men were willing to set aside their status as successful businessmen and succumb to a woman instructor. However, she did make it clear that in the aspects of aviation that men have control over, they are not going to give up that control to help a woman out. It seems women have to try very hard to be equal to men in aviation.