EasyJet pilot reveals shocking sexist comments she receives from male passengers
A female pilot for EasyJet took to Twitter on Saturday to reveal the everyday casual sexism she receives from male passengers for working in a male-dominant profession.
The British pilot, Charlotte Knowlson, in a series of tweets said that she was "baffled" when two male passengers made shocking sexist comments on her and decided that it was time that she shared her frustration and disbelief. One of the passengers reportedly told her that he would not have boarded the plane if he had known she was the pilot.
Knowlson said: "Baffled as to why two male [passengers] felt that these comments were necessary. "I wont make any jokes about female drivers then". "Are you the pilot? If I'd know that I wouldn't have got on." Fact is, I can fly an £80m ($107m) jet, you can't."
The aviator, in her tweets, also admitted that she originally shrugged off the comments in an attempt to be professional but later decided to do something about it.
"Being used to this kind of humor, my reaction of course was to be professional, laugh and ask them if they were enjoying the flight.
"It wasn't [until] later when a cabin crew member expressed her anger at the comment that it made me think. Why is this normal?'
"It is this attitude that puts women off and another barrier stopping them from going into male dominated careers. It shouldn't even be a thing!!! I am a pilot he is a pilot. See, there is no difference."
Knowlson also added that these types of misogynistic comments "saddened" her and that she did not reach this point in her career by listening to these type of absurd statements.
"I didn't get where I am today by listening to these kinds of comments. I'm not offended, I'm not disheartened. I'm saddened by the fact that this is the attitude some still have and think it is ok [sic] to make these comments to women," the pilot said.
Shortly after Knowlson wrote the tweets, her Twitter thread went viral and received over 12,000 retweets and 94,000 likes. The pilot has 12.7k followers who supported her stance and shared her tweets.
One of the followers who shared her tweets said: "Some men need to step off and deal. If you don't think someone is talking about you, then they aren't talking about you, and your oar in the water is unnecessary."
While another person said: "Being able to laugh it off and remain professional is exactly the reaction they needed. Showing them you were unphased [sic] by their jokes is perfect. Truthfully, they likely meant nothing and were trying to flirt away their feelings of inferiority, but you did perfectly."
A male follower cited his wife's profession and posted in support of Knowlson, saying: "My wife's a pilot, every time she flies, she gets a "well done dear" or something similar from holiday makers. None of the troops she flew into Bastion or Kandahar felt the need to patronize her."
Knowlson's brother, Jonny Knowlson, also joined her followers and retweeted all her posts with the caption: "Go sis" with an icon of an airplane. Her brother is a pilot for British Airways.
Knowlson's tweets come nearly a month after Southwest captain and Navy veteran Tammie Jo Shults performed an incredible emergency landing after a midair explosion at 32,000ft caused a woman to be nearly sucked out of the plane. Shults was one of the first women to fly an F-18 aircraft.