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"Flying Is Changing Women!": Women Popularizers Of Commercial Aviation And The Renegotiation Of Traditional Gender And Technological Boundaries In The 1920s-30s, Emily K. Gibson

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis explores how the complex interplay between gender and technology significantly shaped the popularization of commercial aviation in the United States during the 1920s and 30s. As technological innovations improved both the safety and efficiency of airplanes during the early part of the twentieth century, commercial aviation industries increasingly worked to position flight as a viable means of mass transportation. In order to win the trust and money of potential passengers, however, industry proponents recognized the need to separate flight from its initial association with danger and masculine strength by convincing the general public of aviation’s safety and reliability. …