MORE FEMALE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS – OUR CONTINUOUS MISSION

It is true, war begets sacrifices and torment but in the issue at hand it brought hope! During the Second World War many of the men were responding to a call of arms to fight for their countries, and this left open many jobs to be done by the women left at home. Among these jobs, starting from 1941 a handful of women started taking on the toughest of challenges, flight control was only a small part! Who was the first woman controler, we do not know for sure but several names are mentioned when a small group of women started applying themselves in this profession! You can read more on this topic on the following link: The First Women Controllers (faa.gov)

What is the story regarding the macedonian pioneers in this field was best told by one of our colleagues who has been the longest in this profession, Nadica Gavrilovska. She shares her story in an interview that has been published on the 35th page of The Controller magazine, issue of October 2019. As Nadica retells, when in 1976 she went to Belgrade, at the time a regional center for training in SFR of Yugoslavia, the commission in charge of admissions advised her that flight control is not a profession for women. She was told that she can choose a more woman friendly position as a flight attendant. From the air navigation services the highest she could hope to achieve is training for a Flight Information Officer.After finishing this training, Nadica took a position at the Skopje Airoport but she never gave up on her dream- that one day she will be in control of the skies above! A few years later, in 1979, a woman named Liljana Stojanovska was allowed to commence training for air traffic control. She finished with flying colors and thus becoming officially the first licenced controller in Macedonia, working at the Ohrid Airport. These two trailblazing women paved the road for their future colleagues: Svetlana (Ceca) Bunjevac, Marina Shutarev, Katica Trenevska, Zorica Krndija, Frosina Doneski and many more who followed in their footsteps.

Recently M-NAV GOJSC, did a selection of new students for controllers, but unfortunately from the eleven chosen, only one is a woman, our youngest and future controller Daniela Denkovska!

The true reason why so little women apply for these trainings, we shall have to look deeper in the essence of the social stereotypes and home up-bringing, but our mission remains, that every woman that wants to become an air traffic controller will not put up with the answer: ” It is not a profession for women!”

In the table above you may see the actual percentage of gender representation in all the sectors. From the beginnings of MNAV GOJSC Skopje, the Managing Board has never had a female member and from all of the five current top management positions (Executive directors and their deputies), only one, and for the first time is a woman. Until recently, the Sector for Technical Service has not had not one woman employee, but now there are already two. Slowly, but surely this man-inclusive profession is giving up on excluding the females. We are very grateful to the women who paved the way for us, who with their patience and endurance fought the social taboos and here and now We give a solemn promise that our professionalism will not betray their sacrifice.