As long as it does not change to the detriment of male candidates. There are no barriers to entry for women, indeed the opposite is becoming more prevalent. I would suggest the gap in numbers is down to lack of desire and lack of support for girls from the bank of mum and dad.

Lots of :ok: :ok: :ok: to jax’s above thoughts.

1. Airlines will happily hold down/cap T&Cs on elements of the workforce if they can get away with it......

2. If the ratio of male to female applicants at the entry level is as skewed as is often reported then I do suspect the bank of Mum and Dad, influence of Mum, Dad and peer group etc will have a lot to do with this..and FWIW there are plenty of males who can’t afford the “L3” route so I’m wary of female only financial incentives....

And no, I don’t have an answer.

As President of the Bank of Mum and Dad I would never pay for or even encourage either a son or daughter to fly, if they want to fly they can spend their weekly allowance and anything else they can earn themselves, realistically that will mean the local gliding club or air cadets. If they decide that's what they want I will help them through University, after that it's up to them, one of my nephews is on the ladder now, at 30 he is flying in Maun, it has been tough but he will get there.
Plenty of men are willing to commit to that hard grind to realize their ambition, my impression is that young women, seeing the hardship that is going to involve, wisely choose an easier career. So unless they show exceptional talent and are recruited for pilot training by the RAF or some other organization they will get a " proper job".

If you compare specific job for specific job, the pay will almost always be the same. For those who would like to know the truth about the differences in negotiated pay for the same job......watch this video of a recent very famous interview on the subject(where the interviewer with a specific agenda attempts to mis-quote and mislead the interviewee who sets the record straight). While I suggest starting from the beginning, you can get directly to the specifics of this topic at 4:50.

In my outfit male, female, gender neutral or whatever pc crap they want to identify themselves as get paid the same salary.
But
The males actually earn less per hour/ day/ year as they can’t get time off with full pay for pregnancy

That’s actually a very good point!

I believe the GPG figures are based on hourly rate? How is the hourly rate for maternity pay accounted for in this formula? Does anyone actually know? Is it detailed anywhere?

If the individuals are absent from work, then whatever they are paid, that’s a pretty good rate, isn’t it?

Edited to add:

Found the answer:

The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/172) provide that employees should not be included in the employer's gender pay gap calculation if, during the relevant pay reference period, they are being paid at a reduced rate, or nil, as a result of being on leave. This includes employees on maternity, paternity, adoption, parental or shared parental leave. Therefore, employees on maternity leave, or other family leave, should be included only if they are in receipt of full pay during the pay reference period on which the employer's calculation is based.

I imagine including employees paid for not coming in to work, might affect the figures?

Some people are also raising a voice to remove the noticeable bulge in the pay gap of the transgendered - Link:

O'Hare-based airline captain arrested in Colorado castration case | abc7chicago.com

Why should the industry have to change?

If it is safe and pilots of both genders make equal pay, then what's the problem? You can't make girls and women choose aviation over their traditional softer careers!

Back in the late 90's and early 2000's I was heavily involved in the military Interservices Gliding competitions which civilians were allowed to also compete in. Back then she was Jessica Pennant and was very well regarded in gliding circles(no pun intended) She would frequently beat the pants of professional military pilots and was pretty much always in the top 3 every day. She would train out of RAF Bicester while at Oxford University on the BA pilots bursary program so was obviously very clever and had what seemed to the rest of us a dream career ahead of her.

Does anyone know if she returned to working for BA after taking them to court to get her way?

The airline I work for potentially pays women more. One of the agreements we have is paid maternity leave which is only available to our female colleagues. So in a any year our female colleagues would not necessarily receive more pay but rather the same pay for less hours at work. The only equivalent leave which is available to the men is unpaid.

Of course they prefer that facts don't get in the way of myth.
As the USA found, the BLS study into 'pay inequality' found that there was a small gap.....Ironically it came down to choice; women chose less well remunerated professions.