Why don’t women run airlines? Part 2: What do women do? A better corporate culture needed

Why don't women run airlines? It is one thing to recognise that gender imbalance is in no-one's best interests. But shifting the status quo is more than a little troublesome, especially in an industry which is still embedded in a technical and operational environment.

The range of options, from full-frontal onslaught through to much more subtle trajectories, offers greater hope than in the past. Imposed quotas are controversial, informal and formal women's networks are spreading quickly, but if there is one area where unanimity seems likely, it is in the formalisation of mentoring as a means to aiding women to access formerly male-only domains.

And here there is, as always, an essential requirement - a hospitable corporate culture.