When it becomes clear that Maddie isn’t going home tonight, the injustice of her situation seems to hit her. Maddie wants to go home—but she also realizes that when she gets there, she’ll face sexism in a way that could be way worse for her than Paul’s unwanted advances are. Because she’s female, she believes she’ll be severely punished for going on this mission at all. Additionally, losing her boots likely makes her feel worse in this regard, since they signaled that she was just as competent and professional a pilot as her male colleagues.