Are managers referring to female controllers as incubators an acceptable comment?
No.
Is referring to women as having the potential to "get knocked up" appropriate?
No.
NO, it is offensive and derogatory and completely devalues the good work that many female controllers do.
Agreed.
but when actions are made to prevent career development on the basis of sex or potential to have a baby
Is this really what happened?
or that a group predomently made up of women is referred to as an incubator is disgusting.
Agreed.
Any ANSP that 'loads' a group with female controllers of a certain age would have to be morons. It is a fact of life that only the female of our species can bear children. The lead time to train a controller to replace a controller going on maternity leave is un-doable in these situations.
If you are going to actively target an increase in a particular gender to a workplace you are going to have to take into account the life circumstances of this gender. i.e. there is a strong likelihood that females between the age of 20 to 35 may want to start a family. There is also a strong likelihood that the female who has just had a baby will want to come back to the workplace part time. The ANSP
WILL HAVE TO TAKE THIS INTO ACCOUNT WHEN CALCULATING THE CONTROLLER NUMBERS REQUIRED.
ASA DOES NOT DO THIS.
Equally there are times when we can all be a bit too precious and that needs to be recognized as well.
Agreed!!