Let’s have a cup of coffee!!! Let’s wait and see! These kinds of simple words are common to her. The Yeti Airlines flight to Lukla reminds her of these words like plug and play. Extreme weather conditions force the cancellation of flights often.

Jina giving the thumps-up from the co-pilot seat

Jina giving the thumps-up from the co-pilot seat
Jina Lingden represents the class of young career oriented women. She is one of Nepal’s few lady co-pilots and only lady pilot representing the Limbu society from Panchthar in Eastern Nepal. What she finds most exciting about her job is the constant surprises she manages to give her passengers who are often shocked to find a woman in the cockpit. She is very happy and proud of being a pilot. “I am really proud of myself, not in the sense that I am serving passengers, but I am also proud of serving the poor people living in the remote areas by transporting daily needs like rice, oil, salt and other basic necessities,” Jina says.

From an ethnic society, she got the opportunity to be the first Limbu lady pilot from her parents, especially her father. She says, “Actually, since my childhood, I wanted to be a pilot. It was my dream. I was influenced by an article by Rakshya Rana, Nepal’s first lady pilot, and my family supported me a lot to achieve my goal.“

She is a very down-to-earth pilot compared to other lady pilots. Jina not only serves passengers, but also contributes part of income to schools and for children’s welfare funds. She says, “If I weren’t a pilot, I would have opened a school for children in my home town.” It is very rare in our society where persons contribute part of income to charity. These small donations give relief to those who are not able to go to schools and where there government’s planning can’t reach the children.

Nepali women have come a long way since yesteryears when they lived as second class citizens and their roles were more or less confined to their homes. Today, women comprise a fair majority of street vendors, wear modern clothes and most importantly, education for the girls is gradually increasing as awareness and women’s rights are being recognized.

A changing phase for today’s women is exactly what Nepal is discovering, gradually but steadily. It cannot be denied that there has been an improvement in the status of women this century. Women have won political rights, educational opportunities, citizenship rights and others. With each growing day, the women are discovering their status in the society.