Feminism class at Lynn University

It was a joy to visit Professor Joanna Sackel’s undergraduate Feminism course at Lynn University and judge the class debate on whether we still need feminism in the world. I was delighted to see three quarters of the class were young men, and several students were from other countries, which led to an enthusiastic and insightful conversation with diverse perspectives. 

As part of my undergraduate textbook research and writing journey, I am finding ways to learn about the practical aspects of teaching. At a local Girls in Aviation Day event last fall I met Jennifer Torres, an assistant professor in Lynn University’s School of Aeronautics and requested a mentoring session with her. When we talked, she mentioned that the school’s feminism professor had been bugging her to write an aviation-related case study for the collection she uses in class. 

This felt like a goodwill way for me to support her curriculum in exchange for more mentoring, so I spent a week in December crafting a case study tracing the history of women in the airline industry through the lens of the cabin crew. It starts with Ellen Church walking into Boeing as a qualified pilot and nurse looking for a flying job, and walking out as the first airline stewardess, to the shenanigans at the airlines in the 1960’s and ‘70’s marketing women as sex objects, to Lynn Rippelmeyer being the first flight attendant to become an airline pilot and 747 Captain, the ‘Me, Too’ movement and the continued prevalence of sexual harassment against flight attendants, to IATA’s 25 by 2025 initiative.

If you want to know more, you can listen to my recent update on the project: https://youtu.be/CNdc4bxkfW4