Why aren't more women airline pilots?

It's a familiar ritual of flying -- that moment when you're buckled into your seat and the cabin's loudspeakers come to life with a voice that says, "Hello, this is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard."

But how many times in your travels has that voice belonged to a woman?

For most fliers, the answer is never or very few.

While there are plenty of women working in the airline industry around the world -- from gate agents and flight attendants to the corporate rank and file -- men still dominate when it comes to finding a career in the cockpit.

Why that's happening almost 80 years after Helen Richey became the first woman to pilot a commercial airliner is a complex answer that involves money, training, job realities, girls' awareness about career options, and also a bit of mystery.

"Getting more women involved in all aspects of aviation is a nut that everyone in the industry would like to crack but that no one, to date, has," said Chris Dancy, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.