I'm getting fed up to the bone of all this liberal sexism trash talk.

Who gives a rat's posterior if employment is aimed at a certain sex?
If all of you liberal men are so offended by it, why not become this new thing "gender fluid" and apply for the scheme?

Interesting you should mention that because the University of Ghent sponsored in part by the EC recently produced an aytypical employment study which also considered diversity in the commercial aviation industry in Europe and concluded precisely that: most women are not interested. There is another angle to this scholarship though that I don't think has been considered here, namely that there is also an agenda on the part of the ATO and BWPA. All good for publicity, sales etc.

I'm sorry but this "most women aren't interested" argument is a terrible argument. I would bet that most men also aren't interested.

Most men and women that I know do not want to be pilots..

When you take a sample of those who want to be pilots (not a random sample of the entire population!) you will find that the vast majority of those within that sample are male.

But proportionately more men are interested than women - otherwise there would be a greater balance. There are no other barriers these days, and indeed as this thread demonstrates, a greater incentive for females. There are of course also occupations where you will find a greater proportion of females to men...

That's not an answer if anything it's a question.

Why are more women not interested and what is being done to address that.

Why does anything need to be done to address it?

why are more girls into barbie dolls than boys? why are more boys into power rangers than girls?

Yes yes we're in a world which is fast changing and society now teaches it is ok to break from those historical norms ... but we cannot actively force women into the game if the majority of them have no desire for it. We naturally tend towards doing what we want to ... girls that want to apply are entirely free to do so and no one has stopped them in the past, this programme is not needed or required.

Oh for crying out loud just give it a rest, will you! :ugh:

Women can make their own life decisions, thank you very much. So to the people who claim "oh but they need to be encouraged / have a role model / extra (financial) assistance / motivational speeches" to consider a flying career; well, you are actually being incredibly patronising and seriously underestimate the ability of women to think for themselves, a point which has been mentioned before on this thread.

Please - no more threads on the whole pilot gender :mad:- this discussion has been going round in circles for years. There is nothing to debate. Men and women are just different, with different strengths and weaknesses and different interests and ambitions and this is something to embrace. . . and if you do care so much about the interests of women, then let us do what we want with our lives, whether that's to be a stay-at-home mother, or commercial pilot for that matter.

Live and let live.

From an 18yr old gal who flew solo for the first time recently (still can't wipe the grin off my face! , all my flying is funded by having worked as a cleaner since I left secondary school (smirk at your screens as much as you like), all motivation not stemming from trying to "prove a (feminist) point" but from the sheer passion for flying and genuine love for aviation, as should be the case for all of us, right?

Agree 100%. But just have to point out this part, ( "So to the people who claim "oh but they need to be encouraged / have a role model / extra (financial) assistance / motivational speeches" to consider a flying career; well, you are actually being incredibly patronising and seriously underestimate the ability of women to think for themselves, a point which has been mentioned before on this thread. " )

The "people" who 99% of the times go on about this are feminists...plenty of youtube material of them being patronising, nothing new.

I see the problem some are addressing here, but still:

If this (small) scheme means that selection does no longer favor the best, then are we assuming that virtually all air forces in the world did not select the best for decades? Who will admit he got in because there was a girl who wasn´t allowed to apply? See, all of a sudden it all sounds constructed and what-if-ish.

It´s a few extra slots for women. The political context of this is always worth a discussion, but I´m not sure if you can have it without acknowledging a whole lot of aspects that won´t support your case here.

There was never a shortage of applicants to air forces as far as I can see, rather they have always been heavily oversubscribed, being limited to men for a few decades doesn't mean the quality of those selected suffered.

See? Now it’s not a problem.