Originally Posted by
m0nkfish
I think define the problem first, then identify a solution. If the military is just not seen as a good cultural fit for some minority groups then one could ask if a problem actually exists. For the record, I think a problem exists if an individual wants to join an organisation but finds they are treated differently and selection is made more difficult because of either their gender, religion or race.
If a lot of minority group candidates are not making the grade because they are either lacking in aptitude or academic ability then this is a problem that is not going to be solved by the RAF without recourse to racist recruitment policies. The problem should be passed back to Government who need to engage schools and colleges to undertake a similar process to identify where these groups are being disadvantaged.
the problem is we are on the bones of our arse for recruits, so need the recruitment pool to be as large as possible.
at every age below 25, people defining themselves as “white” is below that of all other ethnic groups. If the RAF (or any other service) wants to have people in it then it needs to recruit within those differing ethnic groups. And bluntly it looks a bit lazy if despite the fact white people are the smallest group in that age profile, they make up the preponderance of our recruits.
[source: ONS
https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures....-groups/latest ]
Concurrently, the UK has a sex ratio of c49:51 male:female (although that is skewed by more old ladies, so it’s about 50:50 for <25s). Thus, again, if we do t want to run out of people, we need to recruit as many of both sex as possible.
tl;dr - the RAF and Armed Services can’t survive by just recruiting white males, especially as they’re a pool declining in size.