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

‘It’s a surprise when I tell people I’m a pilot’ ... Isabelle Lane. Photograph: Peter Flude/The Guardian

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?”