Just over five per cent of BA pilots are women (the national average is around three per cent). I haven’t suffered from any sexism at work, but it’s a common assumption that because I’m a woman, I must be cabin crew.
I was once flying back to HKG from Bali on CX, sat in 1A in J. Just before the doors closed, a tall attractive blonde sat down next to me, at which point I diverged from my normal routine of ignoring my seat-mate and engaged in conversation. Shortly into said conversation she revealed that she worked for CX. I took the opportunity to say that my sister had once worked as cabin crew (I might have even added "too" or "as well" to emphasize the point) and asked whether she had been with the airline long. At which point she told me it had been a couple of years with CX but before that she flew 747 freighters for one of the cargo airlines
Shortly after, I put my sunglasses back on and feigned sleep for the next couple of hours........