Ethiopian Airlines' First Ever 'All Female' Flight Crew Just Stuck It To The Patriarchy

Last week, Ethiopian Airlines had an all female-staffed flight for the first time in the company’s history.

The 'All Woman Functioned Flight' was an attempt by the nation to demonstrate gender equality, having previously been ranked by the United Nations as one of the worst in the world for female empowerment.

According to a press release from the airline, every position on the plane was filled by a woman, from the pilots to the cabin crew. Flight dispatchers who worked the flight from the ground were also female.

The crew traveled from Ethiopia’s capital city Addis Ababa to Bangkok, Thailand.

Just one week earlier, Air Zimbabwe pulled off a similar feat for their first time too.

Ethiopian Airlines’ Group CEO Tewolde GebreMariam described women as “the continent’s greatest untapped resources.” He promised that the company would be “fully dedicated to ensure the increase[d] number of women in decision making positions.”

Ethiopia was ranked 174 out of 184 countries in the U.N’s Gender Development Index back in 2011.

How's Australia going, you ask? Well, stats from 2014 reveal that only 4.5 per cent of Qantas’ 3784 pilots are female. The percentages at Virgin and Tigerair aren’t much better (4.9 per cent and 7.7 per cent, respectively).

Sadly not, Amy.

It's time we stepped up our game.