But now, women are showing that they too can contribute to these industries and that gender is no barrier to entry.

Nicole Ng is a prime example of this as she nears the completion of her studies in Aviation Management at Swinburne University, Melbourne.

Recipient of the International Aviation Women’s Association Scholarship, the talented 21-year-old has finally returned to Malaysia after two and a half years of studying abroad.

Speaking to FMT, she explained that her decision to enter the male-dominated industry was only formed recently and that back in high school, she was undecided on what she wanted to do in life.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to study and I felt so lost. I didn’t really have a proper ambition or goal,” she said.

She performed very well in high school, but there was nothing in particular that caught her interest, until she decided to give the automotive industry a go by studying mechanical engineering.

She said that in her younger days, she went through a phase where she bought automotive magazines, but lost interest after discovering she did not really understand their contents.

Her interest in vehicles revived, she dabbled in mechanical engineering for one semester.

Finding that it was not something she enjoyed, she decided to move on instead from focusing on terrestrial vehicles to aerial vehicles. “It was cars that I wanted to work on but then I thought, ‘Hey, planes are cooler.’”

After a few weeks of enrolling in aviation management at the University of Swinburne, Ng knew that she had finally found her true calling. “I was just so blown away, so drawn to the aviation industry and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

“Aviation management has truly changed how I look at things and it gave me a goal that I wanted to work towards.”

Asked what aviation management entails, she said that she is frequently asked that question by many.

“It’s a very broad course. It touches on all the different aspects in the aviation industry, from aircraft design to air traffic control,” she explained.

“We have physics, we have math. It’s very broad, from the business side to the technical side of things.”

According to her, people who are unfamiliar with the aviation industry are somewhat oblivious of the many things going on behind the scene.

“When you’re in touch with the industry, you see so many different aspects to it.”

She relates her time learning for the first time about aviation medicine, a facet of medicine that is connected to how the body reacts at a high altitude.

“It’s really a very, very interesting industry.”

Even her parents are not particularly certain of what exactly she does, but they remain supportive of her whatever the case.

She laughs when she recounts a time when her father thought that her course would set her for a career as ground control staff, “standing with the signs and directing the aeroplanes”.

Her mother on the other hand had hoped that she would study music, as she believed it would be less stressful for her daughter.

Regardless, Ng treasures her parents’ support greatly and is thankful to them.

“The people that inspire me to do my best are my parents. Not that they are pressuring me, but I just feel like I want to do the best for them.”

A hardworking student, she not only had to cope with her studies but also her work with an aircraft maintenance company in Malaysia.

Asked about her study methods, Ng said that she rewards herself in small ways if she sits down long enough to read up on a certain topic.

“I will spend the whole day studying so that I can reward myself by going out with my friends at night.”

To assist her studies, she came up with a planner to divide her time equally between her academic subjects, and she makes sure she sticks to it.

“If I’ve ticked everything off my study planner, only then can I go out. But if I haven’t, I feel very uneasy, like I haven’t accomplished anything.”

She said that there is a misconception among her friends that her active Instagram account means she hangs out a lot.

The truth is when they do not see her hanging out with them, she really is burning the midnight oil with her books.

She emphasises that it is important for any student to have a proper work-life balance to keep their head on straight.

“It’s super important to have time to go out with your friends, to have a hobby, to do something you love just to relax.”

Asked about the difficulty of being a woman in a male-dominated industry, she explains that while she hasn’t really entered the working world yet, she has learnt from other women in the industry that they have not had an easy life.

“It was very difficult to climb the ladder just because they were women,” she said. “But I think we’re moving away from that nowadays. People are now more open to having women in the industry.”

For young girls wishing to follow her path, she has this to say, “Just go for it. It might seem intimidating at first because it’s usually all guys and people may ask, ‘Why do you want to do this?’”

“I don’t think gender determines what you can, should or should not do when it comes to your career and to your passions.”