Page:The Fun of It.pdf/177

Rh didn’t take her long to find out what was wrong. Of course boys didn’t know dishwater should be soapy. Of course they didn’t know ovens should be hot for biscuit, and of course they didn’t know a dozen other fundamentals that girls picked up before they ever came to class.

So—by including some explanations unnecessary for girls in the general method, pie-making went on apace. In the same way, feminine students in flying schools might gain more if courses were modified or adjusted to their educational needs.

Just as there may be some handicaps in training, so there may be in finances. Most girls are not able to earn as much as boys, particularly around airports, yet they must pay the same price for fly­ing lessons. No one wants a feminine “grease mon­key” around the hangar to do the odd jobs which may partly pay for a young man’s aviation train­ing. Then, too, with fewer outlets to earn money after they have their flying license, they must hesi­tate longer about deciding on an aviation career.

There are also minor hindrances in the construc­tion of airplanes. Such things as brakes and start­ers are sometimes so obviously designed or located for masculine hands or feet that small women pilots have discomfort if not difficulty in using them. Some of the smallest women have to stuff pillows around them to make the cockpit fit.

Probably the most profound deterrent of all is tradition which keeps women from trying new things and from putting forth their whole effort