Dave, forgive a layman adding his tuppence worth to this thread, but I think your drawing a parallel with low time ex-cadets being recruited into management (and therefore flying only the equivalent of a 50% roster) with Ms Starmer is spurious.
I wouldn’t argue for a minute that sitting at a desk in company head office, doing whatever company-related duties that might entail, is equivalent to flying the line. But those duties, whatever they may be, are company-related. The manager’s head is into whatever it is he is doing, be it re-writing a manual - or any one of the myriad other things the company finds to occupy the minds of its aspiring leadership.
Being at home raising your child/children cannot be compared with it. The person placed in that incredibly important position needs to have her/his head on a totally different plane (if you’ll forgive the unfortunate - and unintentional - pun).
Some will call me a Neanderthal for saying it, but in my opinion, the lady is taking the piss, and if the vast majority of comments on the other thread are anything to go by, it would seem that many other pilots hold a similar view. BALPA has fallen into the classic trap unions have suffered for too long now, of spending 95% of its time, effort and money representing the ‘needs’ of 5% of its membership - in this case, clearly to the detriment of the other 95%.