WestJet pilot Carey Steacy told CTV that crews were cleaning the aircraft after a flight from Calgary to Victoria on Sunday, and they found the note from a passenger named "David" written on a napkin.
"The cockpit of an airliner is no place for a woman," the note said. "A woman being a mother is the most honour, not as ‘captain.’”
“PS I wish Westjet [sic] could tell me a fair lady is at the helm so I can book another flight,” he continued, observing that his views were "not PC."
"It made me feel sad. It was just surprising," Steacy recalled. “I can’t believe that there’s people that still think that way.”
In a post on Facebook, Steacy wrote that the passenger had been "welcome to deplane when you heard I was a 'fair lady.' You have that right. Funny, we all, us humans, have the same rights in this great free country of ours. "
The WestJet passenger's note also pointed to a Bible verse, Proverbs 31, which many Christians believe defines the "perfect" woman as a wife who works in the home.
North Carolina writer Aubry Smith explained how the meaning of the passage became tainted for her after a male mentor forced her to learn it as a teenager.
"A Proverbs 31 woman forgoes her career and life’s aspirations for childbearing and child rearing," she wrote. "A Proverbs 31 woman keeps a perfectly pristine house – in high heels and pearls."
"Proverbs 31 woman acquiesces to her husband’s every wish. She is quiet and meek, never opinionated, and yet – a tigress in the bedroom," Smith added. "A Proverbs 31 woman knits, crochets, and cross-stitches. She decorates like Martha Stewart and actually succeeds in her Pinterest crafts. A Proverbs 31 woman weighs 110 pounds and has perfect country-singer hair."
Watch the video below from CTV, broadcast March 4, 2013.
