“A 20% recruitment "target" when the percentage of female CPL holders in Australia is low single digit, is a quota by any other name.”
No, its a target, a lofty one at that which the CEO has acknowledged is optimistic.
Many here misunderstand how QF propose to narrow the gender gap At no point have they had quotas and at no point have they proposed them.
Remember, the aim here for Qantas and any other airline on the planet is to alleviate the unfolding pilot shortage and a quota will not achieve this.
In fact, in the present market, a quota would undermine this aim.
The motivation is to expand the talent pool from which to draw from, not to prioritize women over men from the present lop sided pool of applicants.
How Qantas intends to grow the female side of the pool is anyones guess however I suspect they are coming to the same conclusion as other (most) airlines are that the biggest obstacle is the complete lack of visible female role models.
I dont know how far Qantas has progressed down the path in solving this however many airlines have become active in sending female pilots out to schools to discuss the career as an option with kids and to demonstrate that women can and do occupy pilot eats in airliners.
Others methods are being employed upstream to encourage women to participate in the industry and much has been written on the subject.
A quick scan of the internet reveals many articles on the subject of how airlines the world over are coming to the conclusion that increasing the participation of women and minorities is key to solving the shrinking pilot applicant pool.
“Forget these stupid quota ideas. Simply hire the best qualified person for the job.”
Correct, by increasing the participation rate of women airlines are growing the talent pool which makes it easier to hire the best qualified person for the job.
Previously when the industry was 100% male dominated, often the best person for the job was not permitted to even apply and thus the system discriminated in favor of men.