Navigating Secret Societies:

Black Women in the Commercial Airline Industry

Thesis

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the

Graduate School of The Ohio State University

By

Shannon McLoughlin Morrison, PhD

Graduate Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

The Ohio State University

2020

Thesis Committee

Guisela Latorre, Advisor

Wendy Smooth

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Copyrighted by

Shannon McLoughlin Morrison, Ph.D.

2020

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Abstract

A little over 4% of women in the hold the certification necessary to fly for a commercial airline like Delta, American, or Southwest. Even fewer of that 4% are women of color. The numbers are consistent across the industry, where the majority of positions are still held by white men. Yet, the industry would have you believe it has made great strides in addressing the lack of diversity and inclusion; they do so each year during Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Pride Month, where airlines publish articles or social media about ‘their all black/all-female/ all LGBTQ flight crew.’

Despite the importance of representation when it comes to outreach to younger people, it is not enough for organizations to rely on representation as a means for claiming

‘achievement’ of diverse and inclusive workspaces. I argue that this requires aviation organizations to utilize self-reflexive practices that are not encompassed in representation alone. In order to critically examine why these organizations remain resistant to the inclusion of diverse individuals, this project reflects on the experiences of Black women, working in the field of aviation, through the writings of Black Feminist scholars. Having a more robust understanding of the complex experiences of Black women is imperative if aviation organizations wish to implement structural changes that will ultimately enable them to create, sustain and recruit underrepresented individuals.

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Dedication

For Grandma Baker

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Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I would like to take this moment to thank the women that I interviewed. Not all of their stories made it into this thesis, but they informed my thinking, challenged me, and more than anything gave me a sense of hope. Aviation is an often romanticized field, but there was a genuine sense of optimism and excitement with the many women who shared their stories. Aviation was about opportunity and possibility.

I would like to thank several of the faculty members in WGSS. My advisor Dr. Guisela

Latorre, committee member Dr. Wendy Smooth, and Dr. Treva Lindsey. Each one was supportive of my thinking, challenged me to ask difficult questions, and to analyze my assumptions. I am better because of you.

Finally, I want to thank my husband Nick. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in life.

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Vita

June 2002…………………………………...Village Academy High School

May 2006 ...... B.A. Denison University

August 2008 ...... M.A. The Ohio State University

December 2015……………………………...Ph.D. The Ohio State University

August 2018…………………………………M.A. The Ohio State University

February 2020-present ...... Assistant Director, Academics and Program

Assessment, The Ohio State University Center for Aviation Studies

Publications

Morrison, S.M (2019). “Closing the Loop to Shift the Default: How alternative ways of knowing can inform research and pedagogical practice,” Journal of Engineering Education, 108:3, 313-315. DOI:10.1002/jee.20285

Fields of Study

Major Field: Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

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Table of Contents

Abstract ...... ii Dedication ...... iii Acknowledgments...... iv Vita ...... v Introduction ...... 1 Literature Review...... 6 Black Women in Aviation:Two Case Studies ...... 13 Conclusion ...... 29 References ...... 32

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INTRODUCTION

In February 2017, Delta Airlines announced that they had hired their first Black female airline captain, Stephanie Johnson.1 The article was part of a larger series that Delta was doing throughout the month of February to highlight groundbreaking in the name of Black History Month. Captain Johnson was part of the company’s effort to demonstrate a commitment to inclusiveness. In the article, Captain Johnson mentions that, while she has always been fascinated with , her love for aviation didn’t come from an immediate family member. Instead it was a high school physics teacher who encouraged her to pursue flight lessons. Captain Johnson would go on to get her degree from Kent State University. From there she would become a flight instructor and eventually began her commercial airline career at Northwest Airlines. Captain Johnson has been ‘the first’ many times; for Northwest, she was their first Black female pilot, and for Delta, their first Black female captain. Throughout the interview, Captain Johnson articulates this idea of responsibility to future generations of women who don’t know that aviation is a potential career choice for them.

The interview and ensuing article were meant to be a celebration of the achievements of African Americans, and of this particular Black female captain. Captain

Johnson has certainly made quite the achievement, as being a captain for Delta Airlines is

1 https://news.delta.com/delta-s-first-black-female-captain-taking-was-thrill-my-life 1 no small feat, and there are very few women of color pilots in the industry as a whole.

However, this story, and others like it, ignore the emotional labor that is placed on underrepresented individuals, and Black women specifically, to safely move in spaces that have been coded as ‘traditionally white spaces.” What is troubling is that airlines often use this kind of publicity as an indicator for how accepting it is of diverse individuals. Airlines use articles like this and other imagery (through social media platforms) as a demonstration that the organization values diversity and inclusion without having to critically reflect upon why their organizations have so few women of color.

Representation matters, but it is a passive approach to diversity and inclusion.

Organizations that rely on representation have not done the more challenging work of reflecting on the institutional structures that maintain their organizations as predominantly white spaces.

Despite these efforts, the aviation industry remains, like other STEM fields, lacking in the numbers of women, and more specifically the numbers of black women who pursue careers. Evans and Feagin (2012) suggest that the total numbers of African

American pilots were fewer than 700 with less than twenty being women. This disconnect between the efforts of the industry to generate a more inclusive and equitable workforce, and the numbers of black women in aviation careers, is what formed the basis of the research question which drives this study: Given the limited impact of diversity and inclusion efforts, what new opportunities does a critical engagement with Black

Feminist scholarship, and the shared experiences of black women, provide to the aviation industry? This project is grounded in the scholarship of Black Feminists and looks to the

2 theory of intersectionality as a means for informing the analysis on the ways in which

Black women’s experiences can enlighten the creation and implementation of diversity and inclusion efforts in the United States aviation industry.

What follows is a literature review that covers a brief history of the aviation industry, and how it has long been established as a traditionally white space. This history is supported through the work of sociologist Louwanda Evans, who analyzed the emotional labor of African Americans working in this industry. Her work demonstrates the effects of institutionalized racism in the United States and the resulting emotional labor experienced by Black aviation professionals. Finally, this project analyzes two case studies of Black women who are currently working in the aviation industry through the lens of intersectionality. By considering these women’s experiences within the context of aviation as a ‘white space,’ there is the potential for aviation to critically examine the ways in which diversity and inclusion efforts, through imagery and marketing, have been thus far unsuccessful at increasing the numbers of Black women in the industry.

Background

Current attitudes and expectations about Black women as pilots can be contextualized by examining the history of the commercial airline industry in the United States. In

December of 1903, two brothers took their flight machine for a test flight to Kitty Hawk,

North Carolina. On December 17, the were able to conduct their first sustained flight in a machine-powered . The flight itself only lasted twenty seconds and covered the distance of 120 feet. Arguably, this was an impressive feat and would have long lasting implications for the transportation industry. Perhaps most

3 interesting is how history remembers the Wright Brothers and those who came after them. Airplanes and aviation in the United States have been associated with the romanticized ideals of Manifest Destiny and the American Dream. While it took some time for the development of the airplane to gain support, once it did, it ignited a passion and enthusiasm for aviation, amongst Americans, one that still carries forward to this day.

Author Jennifer Van Vleck (2013) describes this attitude in her book Empire of the Air, writing, “Yet in the American cultural imagination, aviation tapped into nationalist narratives about frontier conquest, manifest destiny, and American exceptionalism (the idea that the United States possessed a unique character and mission.)” (p. 20). From the very beginning of aviation, in particular commercial aviation, there has been an assumption that this new technology would further the rhetoric of America’s greatness. Van Vleck further identifies how the airplane was articulated as the machine that would connect the world. Despite the ability to travel by air, and potentially connect with cultures around the world, white Americans did not alter their beliefs in American greatness and superiority. Van Vleck (2013) writes:

Americans’ views of foreign peoples and places, then, did not necessarily change after the airplane allowed them to see and to know the foreign firsthand. In the case of the

Army pilots, the diplomatic and military officials who assisted them, and the journalists who covered their travels, encounters with the foreign tended to confirm preexisting beliefs. (p. 39)

In other words, the ability to fly around the world was about establishing white

American dominance rather than an opportunity to learn and experience the lives of

4 others. Part of this mindset is the direct result of the military support and funding for the development of aircraft. There was a sense that aviation would be a gateway to diplomacy and peace, through the colonial Western ideals.

However, the commercial aviation industry may have evolved over the ensuing decades, the reality is that it was created and organized under the belief in white

American superiority. The effects of this history can still be seen today through the ways in which major airline companies approach diversity and inclusion efforts. The response has been to create grand displays of support (like the article about Captain Johnson) with no reflection on the structures within the industry that continue to maintain it as a white space.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Efforts to improve diversity and inclusion are not particularly new in STEM fields, including the aviation and aerospace fields. Organizations like Women in Aviation

(WAI), the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP), and the National

Gay Pilots Association (NGPA), among others, were created and have been active for several decades. These groups originated in an effort to provide a space and mentorship opportunities for individuals who have been historically underrepresented within the aviation industry. In recent years there seems to be an increasing sense of urgency as the numbers of underrepresented individuals becoming pilots remains low. In a recent

Facebook video, the Sister of the Sky indicated that African American women make up less than 1% of all professional pilots in the United States. The response from the industry has been to increase the number of events, or programming around diversity and inclusion. Both the NGPA and The Ohio State University held conferences devoted to the topic. The Aviation Accreditation Board, International (AABI) dedicated a day of their conference to professional development activities focused on these subjects. While the content varied, it is clear that the industry has noticed the low numbers of underrepresented people and is trying to address it.

However, despite the influx of conferences and attention to diversity concerns, part of the challenge for the aviation industry is a determination of what these efforts represent and the outcome they aim to achieve. What are the tangible indicators that an organization is diverse? Is it simply that certain bodies are now permitted to share space on the flight deck? Or has the environment of the organization been altered in some way

6 which suggests that the company is now both equitable and inclusive? Who and what is representative of diversity? The ways in which these ideas have been historically defined and incorporated into diversity and inclusion efforts have contributed to the industry remaining stagnant in its diversity of representation. A review of the literature on diversity and inclusion demonstrates this stagnation.

Diversity Idolized

One of the most troubling aspects about diversity and inclusion efforts is their seeming inability to effect any real change. For instance, Women in Aviation,

International received official non-profit status in 1994, however, the numbers of women working in the aviation industry has altered little since then (particularly in certified positions like pilots or maintenance professionals). It has been over 20 years since the organization was created, and its primary mission is to support and mentor women in their pursuit of aviation careers. Yet, only 4% of women are qualified to be airline pilots for a major US carrier, and even fewer are Black women. These statistics suggest that there is something missing from within organizations that prevents an increase in the numbers of underrepresented people pursuing aviation.

STEM fields have become increasingly interested in finding ways to bring more underrepresented individuals into the fields. One way to observe this is by reviewing organizations like the National Science Foundation, which regularly funds research projects that are looking for ways to recruit and retain underrepresented people to the field. Yet, despite this hyper focus, there remains a disconnect between the diversity and inclusion efforts and changes to the industry that would lead to an increase in the

7 percentage of underrepresented people in these career paths. One of the challenges to diversity and inclusion is the rhetoric which often idolizes the efforts and any potential solutions they offer. Bell and Hartmann (2007) argue “it is how they are talking about it, extolling the virtues of difference, celebrating diversity as a value itself, and describing diversity as the new cornerstone of American democratic idealism” (p. 895). Bell and

Hartmann go on to articulate that this way of thinking about diversity does little to address the social structures that reproduce white normativity and inequality. As such, it is often disingenuous for an organization to say that they are promoting diversity and inclusion when that is typically not understood or acted upon in a holistic way. Yet, this has not stopped diversity and inclusion from becoming a popular programming effort within organizations. Return for a moment to the article written by Delta Airlines about the hire of their first Black female captain. This article was produced and published during the month of February, which coincides with Black History Month. The purpose of such an article was to create positive press for the company, to demonstrate to the flying public that it was progressive and welcoming of diverse people, not to actually reflect on what it would take to create an equitable environment for other Black pilots like Captain Johnson. For Delta, this becomes an indicator of success. With so few Black female pilots, how diverse is Delta really?

Diversity in the Workplace

Embrick (2011) writes, “Diversity ideology has enabled many organizations to curtail deeper investigations into the gender and racial inequalities that continue to persist in the workplace” (542). This is a searing criticism given the support that diversity and

8 inclusion tends to generate within organizations. Embrick’s argument, however, aligns with the reality that diversity and inclusion efforts are failing to actually recruit and retain more underrepresented individuals to the aviation and aerospace industries, especially women of color. Thinking about Evans’ research (2013), where she cited that less than 25

African American women were pilots for a US based airline, Embrick’s argument is even more relevant. Simply supporting and creating programming is not the same as a critical reflection of the institutional structure that exists and is being maintained. He furthers this argument by saying:

The question we should be asking is not whether corporations are sincere about

diversifying their workplaces to create more opportunities for women and

minority individuals. We already know the answer to that question. Forty plus

years after the civil rights triumphs have not produced significant changes in

terms of who controls big business. A better question to ask is what are the

implications of these major corporations maintaining their white male power

structure? (p. 553)

Ultimately, it is not enough to simply create diversity and inclusion programming. That alone does not address the institutional structures which prevent the recruitment of people of color in the first place. Moreover, representation alone is not an indicator that institutions have successfully become either diverse or inclusive. Trying to include these individuals into a system that has historically been driven to exclude them does not suddenly make an inclusive environment. Instead, attention must be paid to the institutions themselves, and whether or not the new programming is disrupting the status

9 quo. Embrick (2011) furthers this argument by stating that “although all of the managers interviewed claimed that their company cared about diversity in their workplace, there is little to indicate that there are any actions taking place in their companies to ensure that women and minority individuals are given equal opportunities to succeed, compared to their white male counterparts” (p. 546). When airlines rely on representation alone, they are not demonstrating the importance of reflecting on workplace culture. While articles published annually celebrating women and women of color flight crews during the months of February and March, are useful tools for outreach, they do not necessarily equate with a deeper reflection upon institutional structures which reinforce white normativity and racism.

Alternative Understandings

Alice Pawley (2017) writes “I reflected on how much time and energy at every conference goes into arguing for why engineering should spend energy and money on becoming a more diverse profession” (p. 531). Pawley’s point is well taken. Although speaking specifically about the field of engineering, the dynamics are much the same within the aviation industry. Pawley (2017) continues by asking “what would we need to do to make this the ‘default’ position? In other words, what if we shift the burden of proof from the people advocating for the value of diversity to those supporting the status quo, asking this latter group to justify the white, male state of their research” (ibid).

Pawley is advocating for a new way of thinking about how research in the field of engineering education is conducted, one where the assumed default includes diverse representation. While certainly important, I argue that this is not enough. The industry

10 already loves to show off and display its diverse representation; what it is less focused on is reflecting upon itself as an institutional space that reproduces white normativity.

In order to critically examine the experiences of women of color within the aviation industry, we must move beyond the work of diversity and inclusion. While

Pawley (2017) moves the conversation in a more appropriate direction, it is sociologist

Louwanda Evans (2013) who shifts the focus away from diversity and into a conversation of what she calls, ‘emotional labor.’ Evans (2013) writes:

Arguably, most other works on emotional labor often fail to incorporate the

multiple ways it is performed throughout the workday. By specifically examining

African American pilots and flight attendants, occupations that remain

understudied, the more explicit connections between emotional labor

performance, and race and gender identity and ideologies clearly show that much

emotional labor takes place within complex systems of interaction. (p. 10)

Evans offers a clear framework from which an argument can be made that diversity and inclusion efforts are ineffective at increasing the numbers of Black women because they ignore the lived experiences of these women in the workplace.

Black feminist scholars (Crenshaw, 1991 and Collins 2000) reinforce the imperative in accounting for Black women when thinking about how to create liberatory possibility in spaces that have previously made Black women invisible. Kimberle

Crenshaw, writing from the field of legal studies, was trying to work within a system that had a long history of being oppressive. Patricia Hill Collins analyzed the ways in which identity was created and sustained by institutional structures. Both women recognized the

11 need to reflect upon Black women’s experiences if systems of oppression were to be dismantled; their argument was not dissimilar to what Evans was arguing in her analysis of emotional labor within white dominated spaces for people of color. It is these alternative understandings and acknowledgement of different experiences that will enable the aviation industry to create diversity and inclusion programming which will not only recruit more Black women, but sustain those who are already working there.

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BLACK WOMEN IN AVIATION: TWO CASE STUDIES

The numbers of Black women who are pursuing aviation careers remains low.

Yet, the aviation industry would have the public believe otherwise with the annual diversity and inclusion marketing efforts (best exemplified by articles that arise during

Black History Month etc.) I believe that one of the key elements which is missing is the ways in which the programming doesn’t reflect the lived experiences of Black women in the aviation industry. In order to better understand the disconnect between the efforts of the industry and the women they were supposedly helping, I conducted several interviews with Black women within the aviation industry. These women held a variety of positions; some had been flight attendants while others were currently in a collegiate aviation program working towards building their flight time with the goal of working for a commercial airline in the near future. With each of these interviews, I asked that the women identify themselves in whatever way they wished. Some opted to include their names, others did not; some preferred the term African American over Black while others simply said “I am a woman.” It was important to me as a researcher, in collaboration with these women, that I allowed them to identify themselves how they wished to be identified. For the sake of consistency, I use the term Black women in this paper, however, when directly quoting or describing interview participants, I identified them as they chose to be identified. As a young, white, female, in the aviation industry, I have seen and experienced my own fair share of the need for change. It was important to me, as a researcher that I place as little additional labor on these women as I could. The interview questions were developed after a careful review of the literature, however, I

13 used these as guidelines, and encouraged these women to treat our conversation as a discussion. I wanted them to tell me what was important to them, thereby trying to minimize the biases and assumptions I might have about their experiences working in the industry. I am beyond grateful for their time, and participation.

While I interviewed multiple women as part of a larger project, this thesis highlights the experiences of two particular participants. Their experiences and interviews were selected for further analysis because they represented different parts of the aviation industry and different places in career trajectory. What I discovered through these conversations, was that the experiences of Black women in the aviation industry were consistently undervalued and did not inform the development of diversity and inclusion programming within the aviation industry. What these women experienced early in their careers remained unchanged, even after they had been in the industry for some time. This consistency of experience was interesting to consider for analysis.

Intersectionality, Black women, and the Aviation Industry

Given that there are so few Black women in the aviation industry, the method of analysis for this work will be informed by intersectional theory as an approach to understanding the ways that the identities of Black women are created and sustained within the aviation industry, and what that means for the project of diversity and inclusion within the aviation industry. Using intersectional theory as a method for interpreting these conversation is key to creating liberatory possibility within a system that sustains white normativity. While intersectionality as an idea has existed within

Black Feminist scholarship for some time, Kimberle Crenshaw coined the actual term in

14 her 1989 article for the University of Chicago Legal Forum titled “Demarginalizing the

Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine,

Feminist Theory an Antiracist Politics.” What was important and groundbreaking about this piece was the ways in which Crenshaw noted the distinct limitations of feminist theory when it does not account for the unique experiences of black women who are treated as though their race and gender are mutually exclusive categories of experience; this was particularly relevant to Crenshaw’s work in the legal field. Crenshaw’s analysis of the categories of race, gender, and class are an important element in understanding

Black women’s’ experiences within specific institutional structures. Her conceptualization of how intersectionality operates within the legal field was applied to the analysis of the conversations with Black women in the aviation industry.

Case Study One

One of the first people that I had the chance to talk with was an African American woman who worked in a management level position for a regional airline company. She preferred that both her name and organization of employment remain anonymous. In order to protect her identity, I will refer to her as Julie. Her background was in the field of higher education, recruiting, and enrollment management. Aviation was not a field that she consciously pursued; it is one that she ultimately fell into. She stated:

With no aviation background it was challenging. Not in the quality of my work, but challenging because I didn’t know the technical aspects. When recruiting pilots I need to know what the restricted ATP mins are, different kinds of aircraft, so I had pilot

15 counterparts who worked on the recruiting team, that I talked to every day, sometimes two hours on the phone, in the evening, who would help me get up to speed.

For her, one of the most significant challenges that she has faced has been her lack of an aviation background. She did not attribute this issue to her position as a woman of color and did not indicate that it has been a barrier to success. In fact, it was quite the opposite, as her team members seemed willing and able to help her get up to speed. While this is a certainly a positive experience it is not unlike what Bell and Hartmann (2007) were describing within their work; arguing that diversity and inclusion have become ‘happy talk’ within organizations and not necessarily representative of meaningful change from within.

When I asked Julie about the number of women of color who worked in her own organization, she responded that there were a significant number of people of color who were flight attendants, but that, to her knowledge, she was one of the most senior level women of color on the management side within the entire organization. Despite holding what is assumed to be a position of privilege, she noted that she is often assumed to be a .

I get approached a lot. As soon as I say I work for the airlines, everybody automatically thinks I’m a flight attendant. So, I think for women of color and being aware of the opportunities at the airlines, if they don’t want to be a flight attendant, they don’t think there are additional jobs.

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While she acknowledged that there was nothing inherently wrong with pursuing a career as a flight attendant, the assumption, by peers, that Black women would only occupy this space meant that it limited their knowledge of other opportunities that existed.

Ultimately there were two primary takeaways from the conversation: 1) she felt that her identity as an ‘outsider’ with a lack of an aviation background was a larger hurdle than either her racial or gender identity and 2) the importance of understanding all the ways that Black women contribute to the industry, and the ways in which this is also a method of outreach to other Black women and girls. While the experience she shared about her work environment did not immediately indicate a strong connection between her race, class, and gender, these were factors nonetheless. Although she herself enjoyed her position and was successful in it, she still encountered situations where her role was misread by others. Rather than this being a barrier to her success (as she was already in a management position) she saw it as a potential barrier to other Black women who might want to pursue a career in aviation, but were unaware of the opportunities available to them.

Case Study Two

Towards the end of my research, I had the opportunity to interview a student within the Center for Aviation Studies at The Ohio State University, Najla Dorsey. Najla, an African American student, and senior in the program, has her private pilot certificate and was almost done with her instrument rating2 at the time of our interview. Najla’s goal is to pursue the career of a pilot, for either a commercial airline, or in cargo.

2 It is a rating on your flight certificate that allows you to fly under deteriorated weather conditions. 17

I was excited to have the opportunity to speak with Najla, because I wanted to hear about the experiences of a young African American woman who was making her way through a collegiate academic program in hopes of pursuing a career within the airline industry. The Center for Aviation Studies is comprised primarily of white students. Out of approximately 400 students pursuing a degree in aviation, only 12 were women of color. I knew what the literature and my previous conversations seemed to suggest, but what would someone who was just making their way through the industry have to say?

Najla and I had a really intriguing conversation, and one moment in particular really stood out to me. This moment came when Najla compared the aviation industry to

‘a secret society.’ When I pressed her on her choice of words she further clarified by saying that a secret society is an organization that ‘you have to learn about it in order to even know that it was an option for you.’ What Najla was suggesting was that only certain people had access to the aviation industry. Just as secret societies make themselves known and available to certain individuals, so too does the aviation industry.Najla worked as a ramp agent before determining that she would pursue the pilot track. If it hadn’t been for that experience she would have never sought out the pilot track. She cited an experience with a family member who worked in IT, and how she had suggested that they (her family) attend the National Business Aviation Association annual conference. They had not been aware of the opportunities that existed in the industry for people with their background and skill set.

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Secret societies, fraternities, and sororities have a long history, with a very specific set of purposes. They were designed for and by well-off white men to be able to climb the social and political ladder. It was a method of gaining access to positions of power within society. In his book, David Alan Richards (2017) notes the long history of secret societies, particularly at institutions such as Yale University with its close proximity to New York City, often considered the country’s hub of finance and the arts.

If you were a part of a secret society, then you were more likely to build your network and have access to resources that others might not have. This is much the same as within the current Greek system of sororities and fraternities. The cliché is that to participate in the Greek system means you are willing to pay for your friends. None of us who are a part of the Greek system choose to think of it in this way, but the truth is that we are paying for access to something when we join.

While choosing to call aviation a ‘secret society’ at first seemed odd to me, it very much describes the ways in which the aviation industry continues to operate. Recruitment to the airlines is done primarily at collegiate institutions and through the military. So, those who have access to the jobs are those who are often already pursuing careers in the industry.

Najla and I noted that the cost to pursue a pilot career was expensive, she said “you have to have money to play the game.” This is not dissimilar to the ability to participate in fraternities, sororities, or even secret societies. If you have money, you are generally accepted and have access to such networks.

In our conversation, Najla also expressed the importance of mentors and of having professionals who were willing to share their experiences as motivation and as an

19 indication of support for her pursuit of the career. I asked her about whether or not she had experienced people who were less than supportive. Najla indicated that she had been fortunate in that she hadn’t, but even those (professors) who were rumored to be less supportive, she simply chose not to seek them out for guidance when she needed it. Najla reinforced a common theme that I had found when talking to all of the women who were a part of the conversation, namely that seeing others ‘like you’ (Black and female) who were successful in their careers was vital to supporting their own career goals. But all of these women also indicated a need for support from a variety of mentors. Najla identified several local, retired professional pilots who were also a part of the Organization of Black

Aerospace Professionals and who were key to her success. Ultimately having a support system is vital to success.

Finally, Najla indicated some concern over her ability to assert herself as a young professional pilot once she began her career in the regional airline industry. This industry emphasizes safety and it is something that Najla was quick to acknowledge. Pilots and flight crews rely on what the industry calls ‘good CRM’ or Crew Resource Management.

This means that the entire crew is required (and should) speak up if they have a concern during flight. This is part of standard safety procedures to operate a flight. When I asked

Najla to clarify her concerns over her assertiveness, she acknowledged it was possible she might be misread as a young African American woman who was ‘angry,’ but she acknowledged that couldn’t control how others viewed her. Najla expressed that she was more concerned with the fact that assertiveness made her personally uncomfortable as it wasn’t something which came to her naturally. Najla recognized that despite how she

20 might be read, and despite her own fears over ‘speaking up,’ this was something that was required of her as an aviation professional. Without directly addressing it, Najla was acknowledging the role that identity still plays in how Black women are perceived within the aviation industry.

Identity and Representation in the Aviation Industry

The ways in which identity is created, sustained, and maintained is an integral part of what is missing from the ways in which the aviation industry has executed diversity and inclusion programming. Both women acknowledged that being Black introduced experiences that other aviation professionals didn’t encounter or have to navigate. They also both spoke at length about the importance of mentors and of seeing others ‘like you’ in those roles. So why was the aviation industry still so slow to collaborate with women like Najla and Julie?

Crenshaw’s work in the legal profession offers at least some understanding for why there is a failure to incorporate Black women into the conversation about diversity and inclusion. In 1991, Crenshaw further articulated her argument for intersectionality and its critical importance to feminist and antiracist studies in her work “Mapping the

Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” She writes:

My objective there was to illustrate that many of the experiences Black women

face are not subsumed within the traditional boundaries of race or gender

discrimination as these boundaries are currently understood, and that the

intersection of racism and sexism factors into Black women’s lives in ways that

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cannot be captured wholly by looking at the race or gender dimensions of those

experiences separately. (Crenshaw, 1991, p. 1244)

Crenshaw’s theoretical framework stems from her training in the legal profession. Her roadmap for the applicability of intersectionality is derived directly from how she understands the connections between identity and the state. Crenshaw argues that identity is both constructed and managed by the state. She carefully notes how the reliance of

‘mainstream liberal discourse,’ is a reliance on using identity categories as a means for describing power and dominance which she notes are inherently negative frameworks. As she describes it, this keeps Black women in a position where their identities are tied to a framework of being dominated and without power. Here she asks the reader to consider an alternative. Crenshaw (1991) writes, “The problem with identity politics is not that it fails to transcend difference, as some critics charge, but rather the opposite-that it frequently conflates or ignores intragroup differences” (pg. 1242). Crenshaw is clear here; the experiences of Black women will continue to go untold if the traditional barriers around race and gender continue to be applied.

Crenshaw’s articulation of the need to understand the intersections between multiple categories, particularly race and sex, are furthered with the theory of ‘controlling images,’ as constructed by Patricia Hill Collins in her book Black Feminist Thought.

Collins identifies several areas that are critical to Black Feminist thought, but it is her analysis of the role of controlling images and their ability to create identity and a context for understanding forced identity, that are a crucial furthering of the conversation that

Crenshaw began with her theory on intersectionality. Collins (2000) writes:

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Through lived experiences gained within their extended families and

communities, individual African-American women fashioned their own ideas

about the meaning of Black womanhood. When these ideas found collective

expression, Black women’s self-definitions enabled them to refashion African-

influenced conceptions of self and community. These self- definitions of Black

womanhood were designed to resist the negative controlling images of Black

womanhood advanced by Whites as well as the discriminatory social practices

that these controlling images supported. (p. 13)

The emphasis here is on the lived experiences of Black women and how individuals define themselves through those experiences. By focusing on each individual’s set of unique experiences, these women have the opportunity to subvert those negative images which have been designed and used to control them. According to Collins, if they are able to redefine the imagery, then they can reclaim their own identities.

Where Crenshaw begins the conversation of intersectionality with a call for attention to the lived experiences of women who fall under multiple categories, Collins makes the argument that multiple categories are necessary to control black women.

Collins (2000) continues:

If women are allegedly passive and fragile, then why are Black women treated as

“mules” and assigned heavy cleaning chores? If good mothers are supposed to

stay at home with their children, then why are U.S. Black women on public

assistance forced to find jobs and leave their children in day care? (p. 14)

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While Crenshaw identified the state as creating and managing the identity of Black women, Collins furthers the conversation by making the argument that this is done to keep institutional systems in place. Collins distinctly argues how the experience of being a Black woman is different than just being classified as a woman. In this particular example, if Black women were the same as all women, then they would be afforded the same stereotype of being passive and fragile. However, controlling images have not depicted them the same and so they are, quite literally, treated as mules and made to work in laborious positions.

Both Crenshaw and Collins articulate important elements of Black Feminist thought and intersectionality. It is not just the recognition of the importance of how the traditional boundaries of race and gender do not apply to Black women, but how they are purposefully and strategically used against them. Even further, that it is necessary for

Black women to be able to tell their stories in order to subvert the negative controlling images that create and sustain identities that are used by the state (as Crenshaw would define it). Collins (2000) lays this observation out when she writes “Portraying African-

American women as stereotypical mammies, matriarchs, welfare recipients, and hot mammas helps justify U.S. Black women’s oppression. Challenging these controlling images has long been a core theme in Black feminist thought” (pg. 76). Key here is not just the acknowledgement that there are multiple categories that directly affect Black women’s experiences, but that these very same categories are being used as a specific form of oppression that maintains systems that are both sexist and racist. Evans (2013) quotes a Black female pilot who spoke about how everyone was staring at her, unable to

24 realize that she was in fact Black, a female, and a pilot. In the aviation industry, without critically reflecting on the ways in which identity and controlling imagery work to support systems that sustain white normativity, is a failure within diversity and inclusion efforts.

The experiences of Najla and Julie can contribute to a better understanding of how categories and identity are being used to reinforce systems of oppression. One of the first controlling images that Collins identifies is that of the mammy, “the faithful, obedient, domestic servant” (p. 80). When both interviewees alluded to the role of ‘flight attendant’ or their ability to be ‘assertive,’ they were calling forth the struggle that Black women face when institutional structures (like the aviation industry) maintain certain controlling images of Black women. Flight attendants are generally understood to be a serving position, and Black women, who have long dealt with this type of controlling image in the media and in life, are often relegated to this role as a sort of ‘domestic servant in the sky.’ The question is how women like Najla and the Julie are creating liberatory possibility by occupying a space that has not traditionally welcomed them. One of the ways in which they do this is by building a support network.

Both women recognized the need for individuals to see themselves represented in an aviation career in order to pursue it, ‘you don’t know what you don’t know;’ however, both also acknowledged that it is not enough for the industry to recognize diversity at convenient times (like Women’s History Month, Black History Month, or Pride Month).

In fact, Najla stated that she felt that the efforts around diversity and inclusion would eventually fade out, because the industry doesn’t really need to concern itself with it. In

25 reference to her description of the industry as a secret society, Najla felt that the industry ultimately wouldn’t sustain diversity and inclusion efforts because of its long history of being available only to middle-class, white men, with a military background. If this is the case, then it is imperative for organizations to reflect on what these initiatives are striving for, so that they may retain more Black women. Julie and Najla were not the only ones to describe this desire for representation. Several of the other women I interviewed described how they had a lack of exposure to this kind of career path. They stated that ‘no one told them they could be pilots.’ So, it is clear that there is a place for an emphasis upon representation; but these women were quick to note that it wasn’t just seeing someone like you in the career; it was how and who was encouraging you in your youth.

These comments suggest the importance of role models and mentors from an early age, and a need to move beyond the advertising of an ‘all Black flight crew” to suggest an organization has ‘achieved diversity.’

Despite the industry’s attempts to demonstrate a willingness to create an inclusive culture, they are also sustaining a particular kind of identity as normalized.

Advertisements with Black women do not dismantle the controlling images which contribute to Najla’s fears of being assertive and how that assertiveness gets perceived by her peers, and the management professionals’ troubles with being assumed to be a flight attendant in professional spaces. Consideration of these experiences and letting them inform diversity and inclusion policies and practices will enable organizations to find more success in recruiting and retaining diverse talent which is ultimately the goal of such policies. Understanding these experiences would enable the aviation industry to

26 acknowledge that diversity and inclusion efforts often do little to critically examine institutional structures which continue to reinforce white normativity by making Black women both hyper visible and invisible. Their experiences offer liberatory potential for an industry that claims to be invested in more inclusive practices.

Mentorship and Coalition Building

Najla and Julie both identified the need to have mentors and a support system when pursuing a career within the aviation industry. In Julie’s case, this was the desire to have someone on her team with the knowledge base to be able to answer recruitment questions about aviation. Najla sought out a variety of mentors when she first entered her academic program. Many of her mentors came from existing non-profit organizations within the industry, such as the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP).

Najla found other mentors in her instructors and alumni of the program. She was also careful to acknowledge it was equally important to avoid those who (were perceived in the student community) to be unsupportive of underrepresented students.

Both women suggested that mentorship was key for Black women to find success in the industry. Early Black Feminist scholarship also identifies the imperative of building and sustaining coalitions or collectives. In 1977, the Combahee River Collective published their statement on the politics of Black feminism and what it meant to organize. Hull, Scott, and Smith acknowledged the challenges and necessity of organizing together, “Above all else, our politics initially sprang from a shared belief that

Black women are inherently valuable, that our liberation is a necessity, not as an adjunct to somebody else’s but because of our need as human persons for autonomy” (p. 18).

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These activists and scholars determined that shared beliefs and efforts towards liberation were most effective in collaboration with one another. Echoing these sentiments is

Bonnie Thornton Dill (1983) who writes:

it is through first seeking to understand struggles that are not particularly shaped

by one’s own immediate personal priorities that we will begin to experience and

understand the needs and priorities of our sisters- be they black, brown, white,

poor or rich. (p. 41)

While these scholars were speaking directly to the needs and imperatives of other Black feminist scholars, there is a connection to what both Najla and Julie were identifying as

Black female professionals in the aviation industry. For Julie, there was the imperative to have those on her team that she knew would support her efforts, who could train, mentor, and nurture her role as a management professional. For Najla, mentorship was finding both peers and older mentors who could provide guidance, whose paths she could follow.

Building and sustaining collaborations with other industry professionals is a means for these women to create and sustain liberatory spaces in work environments that have been traditionally hostile to their presence. To reinforce the point that Najla so deftly voiced, diversity and inclusion policies will not last if they do not become integral to the industry’s self-reflexive practices. Ann Russo (2009) writes, “I would ask each of us to interrogate ourselves, our organizations, our work places, our families-to examine our individual gender, sexual, racial, and class politics, and our power and privilege in each realm” (p. 316). I would argue that this is also a part of how we build coalitions, and provide mentorship to young professionals.

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CONCLUSION

Aviation, as an industry, is desperately trying to become more diverse and inclusive.

These attempts are evident in the ways that the industry leverages marketing and advertising campaigns to demonstrate the ways in which they are accepting of diverse representation. While representation certainly matters and is important to address within the industry, it cannot be the sole measure for how aviation has addressed the lack of inclusivity. The numbers of Black women who pursue careers in the industry remains low, despite their work of appearing more diverse through representation.

Areas for future research

What this project was unable to address, but is just as critical to the industry, is that the numbers of LGBTQ individuals, people of color, and female identifying individuals remains low across the industry. While there are a number of organizations, such as Women in Aviation, the National Gay Pilots Association, the Organization of

Black Aerospace Professionals, and the Latino Pilots Association (to name a few), that exist to generate more opportunities and address the needs of these various groups, they alone cannot address all the changes that need to occur to make the industry more diverse and inclusive.

This project focused on Black women specifically. When asked about their personal identification, none of the women interviewed directly identified themselves as having a gender or sexuality other than heterosexual and cisgender. This is not to suggest that they might not identify differently, but when asked, their racial identity is what came up first. This could be because the participants understood that this was a research project

29 about Black women and didn’t think to address gender or sexuality more deeply.

However, I hypothesize that this response might also be because those who work in the aviation industry are aware that aviation is still predominantly made up of older white men, and this may have had an impact on how individuals would share their identity.

Sara Ahmed calls this response the need to inhabit whiteness. She (2012) writes “If whiteness is what the institution is oriented around, then even bodies that do not appear white, still have to inhabit whiteness.” In other words, the Black women interviewed are aware that they are trying to inhabit a space that has traditionally valued whiteness. This is an additional layer of emotional labor that these women are tasked with, but one that is also potentially performed out of survival and necessity.

This is where this project could have the potential to enable further research. By creating space for conversations and understanding of the experiences of Black women in aviation, this opens up the possibility for research with LGBTQ and people of color and other groups who have historically been underrepresented in aviation. In doing this kind of work, more information could be learned about the experiences of underrepresented individuals that could improve the efforts of the industry around diversity and inclusion.

This kind of work would move the industry beyond relying on representation alone to serve as an indicator that it has become more diverse and inclusive. Instead, it would enable the industry to reflect on the experiences of underrepresented individuals and allow that to inform how the industry would create and sustain a more inclusive industry.

Final Thoughts

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Arguably the reasons for the low numbers lies in the fact that diversity and inclusion policies are deployed in ways that reinforce the status quo and don’t effectively change the institutional structures which created the inequality in the first place. Cathy Cohen

(1997) in the article “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The radical potential of queer politics?” writes:

By transformational, again, I mean a politics that does not search for opportunities

to integrate into dominant institutions and normative social relationships, but

instead pursues a political agenda that seeks to change values, definitions, and

laws which make these institutions and relationships oppressive. (p. 445)

The commercial airline industry needs to be held accountable for its own history that has led to so few women of color being able to work there. It is not enough to simply suggest that a company is hiring more Black women (for instance) while relying upon that representation to demonstrate a move towards inclusion and equity. The question should be the following: in what ways is the company or the organization changing their structure to better include Black women who wish to pursue a career in aviation?

Understanding the experiences of Black women in traditional white spaces, creates an opportunity to have a more holistic understanding of what diversity and inclusion efforts can do for the communities they purport to serve.

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