If they want to, they will. If they don't they won't. As much as society seems to want men and women to be the same we aren't. We can be equal, but we will never be the same.
Oh, it is *sooooo* not that simple.
Aviation is a community in which women are sufficiently rare, that the rest of the community often tends to conduct itself in a manner that assumes we are not there at all. This can be an unwelcoming environment for us.
I could tell a story about the time a pair of *bright pink* XtraTuff boots were being given away as a door prize at an aviation event, and a room full of about 200 pilots all snickered like that was the most ridiculous prize ever. The MC, who *could* have chosen to speak up and say, "Hey, people, there are women pilots in this room, too!" did *not* do this. Instead, he said, "Hey, your wife might like these!" How do you think that made the women pilots in the room feel? There were probably only about three of us in there.
I'd encourage everyone to employ a little introspection. Peruse this board; when was the last time you saw (or posted, or liked) a crude joke about hot chicks, or about how bossy wives are, etc? Did you speak up? Did anyone?
I could also tell a story about the guy I flew with once, who addressed me as "little girl" throughout the whole flight...
If you're male (and white), think about the role models you had when you started out in aviation. Chances are very high, that they looked a lot like you, and made you think, "yeah, I can do it, too!" Women starting out? Chances of that much slimmer.
So no, maybe nature does not set out the kind of equality we dream of. But society definitely does not, and the enemy is us. The pilots who snickered at the pink boots had cheered wholeheartedly for the accomplishments of a young female pilot not 15 minutes earlier in the ceremony, but in that moment she was forgotten. Invisible. And I was angry.
I'm a physicist, so I live with this in my day job too.
Sorry for the rant.
There's a lot in this to explain why female pilots who are married, are usually married to other pilots. But that's another post for another day...
