In 1973 my younger brother and sister were flying with me as unescorted minors from Ohio to Texas on American Airlines. In those days, the flight attendants were called “stewardesses” and they marked unescorted minors with wing pins. The nice lady in the red, white, and blue uniform handed my sister and me stewardess pins. They put one on my brother that said “pilot.”

“I’m the oldest. I think that I should be the pilot.” I wasn’t shouting. I was polite. My logic was infallible. “My brother can’t even ride his bike without falling off.” I spoke up because the life of every person onboard the plane depended on it.

“Little girls get stewardess pins. Wouldn’t you like to be stewardess?” The poor woman was growing fatigued and tearful, but she feared that I was about to cause a scene.

I wanted to say, “Why would I want to serve drinks if I could fly the plane instead?"

I don’t think men need to give up their half of the sky, just let women hold up their half and benefit from the rain and sunshine.