Female pilot pushes through gender challenges

A 35-year-old pilot and business owner said she had to push through the challenges she faced as a woman in the male-dominated aviation industry to achieve her dream of becoming an instructor.

Kaela Okafor, who is the owner of Paramount Aviation Academy in Mahikeng in the North West province, was speaking at the 2024 National Aviation Gender Summit in uMhlanga on Wednesday.

Okafor said that when she began studying in 2010 at an aviation academy in Bloemfontein, the industry was mostly white and male-dominated.

She said it was very challenging and the comments that she faced as a woman were degrading.

“We got comments like ‘you finding it difficult and you taking longer to progress because you didn’t grow up riding bicycles or having Rollerblades so you don’t understand the mechanics of how an aeroplane would fly’. It was quite degrading at the time, and in the aircraft when we were flying we were told ‘just go and become a teacher or something because you could never do this’.”

Okafor said she realised very early on that it was not going to be easy and that she needed to push though.

“I knew that I could do it.” Her advice to girls who want to become a pilot is that it’s not easy, and she encouraged them to push through discouraging comments.

“Keep studying in the industry, learn as much as you can,” she added. She said that after years of working as a pilot, she eventually became an instructor and now owns her academy.

Sesiphi Mantumbo, 21, from the Eastern Cape, who is a student pilot at Focus Air at Virginia Airport in KwaZulu-Natal, said her biggest challenge has been funding.

She said after completing matric, it took two years for her to get funding to study.

Mantumbo said she comes from a rural area and what is needed in these communities are a lot more empowerment programmes to educate girls about the opportunities in the industry. Lisa Mahlaba, 19, from Impendle in KZN, who is also a student pilot at Focus Air, said the most common problem is funding and she is hoping to get a bursary to help her complete her studies.

Mahlaba said nothing is impossible, and encouraged young girls to follow their dreams. “If it’s your dream to be a pilot, why not. Follow your dream, let your dreams take flight.”

While delivering his speech at the summit, Deputy Minister of Transport Mkhuleko Hlengwa said that in South Africa, out of 25 803 licensed personnel at the end of July 2024, only 5 067 are female.

“This includes pilots, engineers, air traffic officers and cabin crew. Of course, we must celebrate the improvement to almost 20% of women occupying technical roles in the industry. But quite clearly we have a challenge here.”

He said at the current rate of progress, it will take 102 years to close the gender gap in South Africa.

“This is a statistic that should awaken our fires to act. It’s a call to action.”

Hlengwa said in the past the aviation industry has been characterised as being male dominated, but today all three aviation entities in the country are led by women.

He thanked them for paving the way for some of the much needed changes in the overall transport industry.

“Empowering women has a significant ripple effect, not only within the organisations which are key drivers of economic growth and development and critical components of international trade and tourism, but also at the grass-roots level, impacting the very fabric of our society.”

The Mercury