What utter horse poo. WE DO NOT SELECT BY APPEARANCE - selection is via 5 things:
1. Application and being inside the required selection criteria (educational quals, age and fitness).
2. Computer Based Aptitude Testing (CBAT) that looks to select the very best that will likely pass the early stages of flying training. Some females claim that the test is white male biased - little do they know that the head psychologist that sets and runs the CBAT batteries is a female from a mixed heritage. So that kind of sinks that criticism.
3. Leadership exercises - the good old hangar exercises and some group/solo exercises.
4. Interview - normally about 20 minutes or so. There are males and females doing that and also from varied backgrounds.
5. Medical - check of medical fitness and also anthropology (ie. Body measurement) to ensure they fit in the Service’s aircraft.
So, the claim that they are selected on appearance is totally bogus.
Why do I think that we get fewer applying that are not white and male? Firstly, much of the ethnic minority are still allied to the countries that they or their parents came from - so for some they are still building an allegiance to serve (which will come). For some, their foreign cultures feel incompatible to what we ask Service Pers to do. Some suffer from poor education due to wider culture issues in the UK and how multi-ethnic integration has been stifled by not mixing the population (which can be seen in areas that are very much ethnically dominated above the national average, or vice-versa where the white population are well over represented). Some of the recent conflicts have seen some caught between their religious beliefs and where those conflicts have been fought (and probably discouraged by their religious leaders).
Like all things, you can’t force this. If you set up the right environment then they will come - females and multi-ethnic backgrounds. But if you force it too hard, then you just run the risk of upsetting just about everyone and putting lots off! Finally, like LJ hinted at, you won’t see every Profession reflecting society, that is plain daft, just like we are unlikely to see it reflected in the staff for midwifery, ethnic restaurants or beauty treatment. There are some jobs that are more attractive to certain groups of people.