Female Fighter Pilots in Pakistan
Clearly there's some elements of the Pakistani military establishment that are determined to show to the world that Pakistan can be just as modern as any nation. Considering that women have only been allowed to fly fighters in America since 1994 (and are still not allowed, I believe, in a number of western nations) I guess being twelve years late isn't a bad effort.
Interesting to see the ramifications in India (if any) where women have been pilots since the early nineties, but haven't been allowed into fighters. I recall reading that when the Indian airforce first announced it had places for about twelve female pilots, they received some ridiculous number like 10,000 applications. Now back in the early nineties there weren't so many good jobs for educated young women, so they might not be getting that kind of stampede today... but still in India and Pakistan, there's a massive demand/supply mismatch where good jobs are concerned.
I think this could be why both nations only allow quotas of about 12 female inductees at a time, thus keeping the total number of women at maybe %5. Imagine if they removed the quotas, considered all applications seriously, and took the best without preference for male or female. They'd get swamped. I'd guess it's even possible that there could be more female applicants than male, given that there are so many obstacles to women's employment elsewhere, and the military is seen as basically fair. There's also the fact that, in nations where women are traditionally repressed, so called 'feminist professions' are held in much higher regard than in the west, where women's freedoms are taken so much more for granted. Certainly the pilots interviewed in another article all made the point of 'proving that women can do it' as a major motivator.
Imagine if someone challenged the air force's quota system in either India or Pakistan, and it were found illegal in the High Court. Imagine either nation suddenly finding that more than half of their new fighter pilots were female, and facing the prospect of a majority-female airforce in ten or fifteen years. Anyone know a good Pakistani lawyer?
I've long thought that if America wanted to do something to boost recruitment in the military, it should concentrate on getting more female pilots -- at present the numbers are miniscule, maybe %2 for the airforce and %5 for the navy. If intakes went to fifty percent, you'd nearly double the talent pool, thus increasing the final average talent level... that's basic mathematics. Which would in turn act as a massive advertisement for more women to enter any branch of the military (because female pilots are so high profile and easily advertisable -- especially if there were suddenly a lot of them, which would be a news story in itself) which would similarly boost talent pools in many areas. And even if combat-restrictions aren't lifted in other areas (a whole separate post) would certainly free up plenty of men from non-combat positions to move forward to the sharp end. It would be a cascade effect that would benefit all branches.
But then, maybe this did occur to someone recently...
Interesting to see the ramifications in India (if any) where women have been pilots since the early nineties, but haven't been allowed into fighters. I recall reading that when the Indian airforce first announced it had places for about twelve female pilots, they received some ridiculous number like 10,000 applications. Now back in the early nineties there weren't so many good jobs for educated young women, so they might not be getting that kind of stampede today... but still in India and Pakistan, there's a massive demand/supply mismatch where good jobs are concerned.
I think this could be why both nations only allow quotas of about 12 female inductees at a time, thus keeping the total number of women at maybe %5. Imagine if they removed the quotas, considered all applications seriously, and took the best without preference for male or female. They'd get swamped. I'd guess it's even possible that there could be more female applicants than male, given that there are so many obstacles to women's employment elsewhere, and the military is seen as basically fair. There's also the fact that, in nations where women are traditionally repressed, so called 'feminist professions' are held in much higher regard than in the west, where women's freedoms are taken so much more for granted. Certainly the pilots interviewed in another article all made the point of 'proving that women can do it' as a major motivator.
Imagine if someone challenged the air force's quota system in either India or Pakistan, and it were found illegal in the High Court. Imagine either nation suddenly finding that more than half of their new fighter pilots were female, and facing the prospect of a majority-female airforce in ten or fifteen years. Anyone know a good Pakistani lawyer?
I've long thought that if America wanted to do something to boost recruitment in the military, it should concentrate on getting more female pilots -- at present the numbers are miniscule, maybe %2 for the airforce and %5 for the navy. If intakes went to fifty percent, you'd nearly double the talent pool, thus increasing the final average talent level... that's basic mathematics. Which would in turn act as a massive advertisement for more women to enter any branch of the military (because female pilots are so high profile and easily advertisable -- especially if there were suddenly a lot of them, which would be a news story in itself) which would similarly boost talent pools in many areas. And even if combat-restrictions aren't lifted in other areas (a whole separate post) would certainly free up plenty of men from non-combat positions to move forward to the sharp end. It would be a cascade effect that would benefit all branches.
But then, maybe this did occur to someone recently...
1 Comments:
There are many more like Nicole. Check out fighterchicks.com. The reason that there are only a small number of women fighter pilots is that there are not a lot of women with that goal for themselves. But there are more and more everyday....
Post a Comment
<< Home