‘Oh, you’re a woman!’ Why are more than 90% of pilots still men – and can anything narrow the gender gap?

Get on a plane on either side of the Atlantic and you’re vastly more likely to find a man at the controls. Is it because of prejudice, the problems the job poses for family life – or something else?

Sometimes passengers congratulate Maria Pernia-Digings, 61, on her parking. When she tells me this, she tries to laugh it off as a tiny slight, barely worth commenting on. Others don’t bother to hide their shock, and greet her as they leave the plane with blunt amazement: “Oh, you’re a woman!”

“It’s lovely. People are very supportive,” she says, before conceding she finds some of the feedback extremely trying. Remembering the last male passenger to compliment her on her parking, she says: “It is a bit sad, isn’t it, if he thinks that because I’m a woman, I can’t park?”