Cadets First Job
Blimey PP are you suggesting that I go on a diet and lose the moobs?
All joking aside there’s no doubt that many organisations across the world in many lines of business (not just aviation) have recruitment policies that are prejudiced against race, age, gender and many other factors, to think otherwise is naive. Many of these recruitment policies will be decades old and the passing of a law will not change them but will merely ensure that they become covert. The burden of proof will be placed on the applicant to prove that they have been prejudiced and any sensible organisation will occasionally recruit outside their normal demographic to provide proof against their prejudices.
The idea that women getting pregnant will mess up crewing is not very valid I feel. I don’t know how long a pregnant woman can safely fly as a pilot or a passenger but I assume it must be a few months so any effective crewing department will have a few months notice of the expectant mother leaving and so will have ample time to make preparations. In these enlightened and fair times the blokes can take paternity leave when a child is born so that crewing inconvenience is not limited to the mother.
The things that can mess with crewing might be someone suffering a sudden illness or injury that would send them off sick for weeks or months, someone handing in a months notice or someone dying suddenly.
I assume that the lady subject of the original post is trying to find work on her own initiative rather than relying on the training school recommending her to airlines.
On a more controversial note there is an obvious elephant in the room in that it takes much more than good flying skills to be accepted into an airline, ie there might be personality, attitude and hygiene issues. The airline has to consider whether or not they want this individual sat a few feet from one of their skippers for a long multi-sector day. When the training school recommends students to an airline the reputation of the school is at stake, if they continue to recommend inappropriate candidates then the airline will stop approaching the school and go elsewhere. Maybe the school instructors have noticed something outside your friends flying skills that blocks them recommending her. Of course I mean no offence to you or your friend but as I do not know her personally however it might be a valid point to consider.
I’ll finish what has been a far longer and more rambling post than I originally intended by wishing your friend the best of luck in their search for employment.