The manned aircraft industry is notoriously male dominated.  Even today, despite a steady diversity push, few women have risen the ranks to become commercial airline pilots.  Plenty of men prefer it that way, of course.  But something new is happening in the drone industry: Large numbers of women, on their own initiative, are stepping forward to become trained and registered to fly.

Elena Buenrostro, founder of Women Who Drone (WWD), a New York City-based advocacy group, says she founded her non-profit organization in 2017 after she fulfilled her lifelong dream of visiting the Great Wall of China for her 28th birthday. While in China, the budding artist and videographer used a drone to capture images of her visit, the people she’d met and how the experience changed her life. Though hardly a tech-geek, she sensed right away the unlimited potential of drones as a tool for creative story-telling as well as image-making. Suddenly, she was “hooked.”

Upon her return, and still exhilarated, Buenrostro decided she wanted to do more than make her own videos (in fact, she’s already made hundreds during her far-flug visits to 26 different cities in 10 countries, mostly in Asia).  She also wanted to inspire other women to join the fast-growing UAV industry.  Her group’s online platform offers video trainings on various aspects of drone flying as well as news about the activities of her own WWD drone “ambassadors” – women based overseas who typically work on local community-based support projects.  By demonstrating how drone activities are socially useful, as well as potentially profitable, Buenrostro’s hoping WWD will encourage more women and especially young girls to step up and embrace drone technology as their own.

She’s not alone.  A separate organization, Women and Drones, founded in 2019, may be growing even faster.  The group’s currently operating in 22 different countries, especially in Africa, where it seeks to build local business partnerships to allow women to become not just drone operators, but full-fledged drone entrepreneurs. Like WWD, Women and Drones offers online training programs for fledgling drone enthusiasts but also sponsors an annual two-day “boot camp” that trains women in drone photography and cinematography and an assortment of flying techniques, tips and tricks.  Woman and Drones has also attracted some powerful sponsors including Sony Corporation, which funds the boot camp’s set-up costs, and Hollywood Drones, which performs all the training.

The efforts of both groups, while impressive, are just beginning to impact the drone industry. According to WWD statistics, less than 5% of certified licensed drone pilots in the U.S. are women; the global figure (3%) is even lower. But that’s actually a huge improvement from just five years ago when pioneers like Buenrostro were operating virtually alone.  Both organizations expect the female numbers to increase over the next decade as more and more women get exposed to the wonders of drones in high school classes, summer drone “camps” and the ubiquitous drone videos and testimonies posted on social media sites.  Women and Drones also sponsors an annual “Women to Watch” award ceremony that highlights gender disparities in the drone industry and celebrates women making a real difference globally as drone entrepreneurs and activists. And Buenrostro continues to be featured prominently in profiles for the Washington Post, Fast Money and Gizmodo, among other publications.

“I have wings to match my passion,” Buenrostro declares on her website.  Thanks in part to her pioneering efforts, thousands of other women do, too.