My view with the lack of recruits is the whole, and I’m sorry to have to say it, Old Boys Club attitude in the military. We all know that the RAF are a white middle class organisation and you can’t change 100 years of history overnight or without causing headlines.
We have a 15 year old girl, she’s bright, works hard at school and is in the air cadets and her aim was to go to the RAF as a pilot and we give her as much encouragement as we can. BUT she lost all interest when a Corporal on the Typhoon display team said to her last year “ You’ll never fly with the RAF as you’re a girl”
Anybody with the ability should be encouraged to apply and not be penalised by Sex, Colour or Gender but they shouldn’t be given any special treatment and there should be a level playing field for them all. This isn’t the 40s or even the 80s, times have changed and people have to really get over the prejudices of the past and move on.
The story of your daughter is desperately sad and the Corporal in question is an idiot who has no idea what they were taking about.
I can relate a similar story though. I was on holiday with my family when I was 15 (I’m a white male by the way). I happened to mention to a woman at the pool that I wanted to be an RAF fighter pilot. She said “that’ll never happen, you have to know someone to get in don’t you?”. For a brief moment I was hugely deflated until my parents pointed out she was talking crap.
Fast forward a few years and I was successful in my quest.
I hope your daughter can be persuaded to change her mind but, I’m sorry to say, if she let one idiot Corporal change her mind maybe she wasn’t so serious in the first place. It takes 100% commitment to be successful regardless of gender/ethnicity etc.
BV