You don't have to go far to see that discrimination does take place, overtly and sponsored by the system. Just look at the fitness test. a 39 yr old bloke has to do around 10 press ups, 26 sit ups and run to level 8/7 at the beep test. (approx figures cos I'm not at work). a younger female has to do much much less.
Now, I appreciate that males and females are different
, however, the fitness test is not a strength or stamina test it is a fitness test. Surely we all need to reach the SAME standard. If I should ever fail, I will argue that I would have passed if I were a woman and, as such, I have been discriminated against.
Having flown in this mob for 20 years, I saw the introduction of female aircrew mid way through my career. At first, most were a poor standard, despite much flex in flying training. Gradually the standard has improved until now, most are on an equal footing. I feel the problem was never ability but that we (the RAF) selected the wrong character types to fill the female numbers gap quickly. The ones that struggled were the more 'girly' ones; the ones that did well were the more bubbly and aggressive ones that fitted in more with the ethos of the time. The same was true with the blokes; shy ones didn't do too well, louder ones integrated and starred. I'm not saying it was right, just that you cant run a Force with a gung-ho ethos for years and then expect it to change overnight because you introduce a few ladies.
I've seen us go from a fighting force to a lovey-dovey tree hugging organisation with customers, performance indicators and other commercial bollocks. It is going too far ladies and gents. I used to enjoy everyb aspect of my job. Now I'm only 100% happy when I hear the wheels thud into the bay on departure and I'm my own boss for the next few hours.