I know this has been posted on here before, but I cannot believe EZY are still chipping away at it.
We are really excited to relaunch our Amy Johnson Flying Initiative for our next recruitment season and hope to see a whole new generation of female pilots inspired to start a career in aviation with us. Last year thousands of talented females reached out to us about the opportunities with easyJet and we’ll be looking to support motivated individuals to come join us in generation easyJet. All pilots in easyJet receive the same fantastic training, so we know that it won’t take long for you to build a fantastic career with us.
We will be using this initiative to keep you up to date on the latest easyJet news, the opportunities available and the different ways that you can apply to join us regardless of your background. We will also again be working in partnership with the British Women Pilots’ Association to promote the initiative and we again provide the opportunity to underwrite the loan for up to six female recruits.
As a disclaimer, I have nothing against female pilots, and I too want to see more women in aviation.
What I do have a problem with though, is what easyJet is doing by underwriting training loans, in excess of £100k, for female candidates
and not for their equally, or perhaps even more, well-qualified and merited male counterparts.
I know for a fact I'm not the first person to say this, and I won't be the last but pilots should be selected on merit alone, regardless of your age, shape, race or what you have (or don't) between your legs.
I put it to easyJet that they may be in breach the Equality Act 2010 - which was adapted in 2011 to allow
'positive action' - making it legal to promote and recruit those who are under-represented in the employer's workforce, but
ONLY if they are equally qualified. Further, positive action involves an employer taking positive 'proportionate' steps to help remove the
hurdles faced by those sections of the community that are under-represented in its workforce.
How does easyJet ensure that their special six female recruits who are lucky enough to get the £100k loan backing are selected, and how it is ensured that they are equally qualified? Also, how is it that female candidates face any more financial hurdles than male candidates? It would be understandable if the loan was backed for candidates from poorer backgrounds who had nothing to secure a loan against, but this is not necessarily the case here.
There are plenty of under-represented backgrounds in aviation, and it is of course up to easyJet to choose which of these they 'reasonably think' are
disadvantaged or under-represented, but why not choose a group, like those from poorer backgrounds, who are not only under-represented
but also disadvantaged. While female candidates are under-represented, they are not all disadvantaged.
Aside from this, on the easyJet website, female candidates are requested to apply for the Amy Johnson Flying Initiative under 'Co-Pilots', a role that is not open to male candidates, and meanwhile the equivalent male role - an MPL scheme - is not listed or available for application on the website. How then, can easyJet ensure that the females who apply are as qualified as males who cannot?
https://careers.easyjet.com/pilots/f...opportunities/
https://easyjet.taleo.net/careersect...033.1506699895
As a suggestion of how easyJet should improve the scheme, they should means test their loan backing, to ensure it is only awarded to those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and to not offer the loan based on gender, or any under-represented group in particular other than to those who simply cannot secure a loan anywhere else.