When Aviation Policy Doesn’t Match Real Life with Samantha Sliney.

When we talk about barriers in aviation, it is easy to think of them as individual problems.

Something to navigate. Work around. Figure out.

But after my conversation with Samantha Sliney, an attorney, Air Force veteran, current Air National Guard officer, author, and policy advocate, I found myself thinking about a different question:

When does an individual problem become a systemic one?

For Samantha, that question became personal after her son's birth.

While traveling for military duty and breastfeeding, she discovered there was no policy to reimburse the cost of shipping breast milk home.

She started asking questions. Were other women experiencing this too?

They were.

Samantha learned that changing policy requires both data and stories.

Data can tell us how many people are affected and what a solution might cost.

But data only tells part of the story.

When the same barrier keeps showing up in people's lives, it may be telling us that the problem isn't individual at all.

We also talked about Samantha's work around flying while pregnant.

When risk is uncertain, the easiest answer can be no.

Samantha described a different approach:

Moving from "no, because" to "yes, but."

What do we know about the risk? What limitations are actually necessary? And where should someone have the agency to decide for themselves?

Aviation is built around managing risk. We trust pilots to make consequential decisions every day.

Why shouldn't that same trust and agency extend to decisions about their careers?

A U.S. Government Accountability Office analysis of active-duty personnel from 2004 to 2018 found that women were 28% more likely to separate from military service than men.

Its review identified family planning and dependent care among the factors influencing women's decisions to leave.

It raises an important question:

When talented people keep running into the same barrier, why does that barrier still exist?

Today, Samantha is continuing her advocacy through White Lace & Combat Boots, as well as children's books that challenge traditional ideas about careers and caregiving.

For Samantha, the two are connected:

Policy informs culture.

She told me that if her daughter becomes a pilot one day, she doesn't want her competence questioned because she's a woman or because she chooses to have a family.

And if her son becomes a pilot and looks across the cockpit at a woman, she wants him to simply see his copilot.

Maybe that is what meaningful change eventually looks like.

Not remarkable.

Normal.

My full conversation with Samantha Sliney is now available on AVIATE with Shaesta on all major podcast platforms.

Learn more about Samantha's advocacy and books at White Lace & Combat Boots.

Listen now.

Until next time,
Shaesta