Amelia Earhart Role Model

Facing gender barriers, female aviators served as role models to women wanting to enter what was considered a “man’s task.” “In 1784, Elisabeth Thible flew over the French countryside” (The) on a flying balloon. She was the first woman in history to ever take the air. Shortly after the airplane was invented in the early 1900’s, another French woman named Elise Deroche was the first to fly an airplane (The). Following these footsteps, Blanche Scott was the first American woman to fly solo in an airplane (The). Many other young women followed in these footsteps including Amelia Earhart, the world renowned American female aviator, who realized her love for flying and followed the path to become one of the world’s best female aviators. All

Shortly after this trip, Earhart began taking up aviation as a profession instead of a hobby. As soon as she began her new found profession, Earhart set many records (Backus). She was the first woman to fly an autogiro across the country and to fly solo from California to Mexico and from Hawaii to California (Amelia). She was also the first woman to fly solo transcontinental and a year later broke her own record (Amelia). Getting so many records led to her being respected even though she was a woman. Breaking all of these records led to a new found fame and it allowed her to serve as an icon for the women's’ movement. Amelia also stated “the more women fly, the more who become pilots, the more we become recognized” (Backus). Saying this quote, she wanted to inspire other female pilots who were being discriminated because of their gender and also joined the women's suffrage movement (Butler). She joined the Ninety-Nines, which were a womans’ flying organization that inspired young women to fly during the late 1920’s (Butler). She proved to these women that she was going to be the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic which led to her receiving many