Introduces Aviation Badge For Brownies To Encourage Interest In Aviation Careers

European airline easyJet has teamed up with Girlguiding, a U.K. organization similar to the Girl Scouts in the U.S. to give 200,000 girls the opportunity to complete an aviation badge, part of Girlguiding’s new program launched this summer, engaging in aviation, building a foundation for future study and raising awareness of the opportunities to be a pilot as a future career.

The partnership is the first to be announced as part of Girlguiding’s biggest ever overhaul of badges and activities revealed in full this summer. As part of this new program, easyJet is sponsoring a new Aviation badge for Brownies. To earn the badge, girls will challenge themselves to think of 40 things that fly and put their engineering skills to the test, creating their own aircraft experiments with different building materials, structures and launch techniques.

The partnership has the potential to introduce 200,000 girls aged seven to ten to aviation and it is estimated that tens of thousands of girls will undertake this badge in its first year.

Girlguiding’s Girls’ Attitudes Survey found:

• Becoming a pilot was named as being a dream job among 7-10 year old girls
• 15% of 7-10 year old girls believe STEM subjects have the image of being more for boys, compared to over half (52%) of 11-21 year old girls
• 76% of 7-10 year old girls feel encouraged when they see a woman doing a job they want to do
• 42% (7-10) and 63% (11-21) girls would like to be a leader in their chosen job

A recent easyJet survey amng over 500 pilots found:

• Visible role models who featured in childhood, like family members or pilots they met when travelling on holiday, were vital to inspiring young people to consider the career.
• Both male and female pilots surveyed agreed that the most effective outreach efforts would be to work with school teachers and youth and community leaders to spread awareness of the career.
• The partnership with Girlguiding will extend easyJet’s outreach work as part of its Amy Johnson Flying Initiative to a community of nearly half a million girls and young women, with the intention of matching local Girlguiding units with pilot speakers.

Since launching the Initiative in 2015, easyJet pilots including many female pilots, have visited over 140 schools and colleges to raise the profile of the career.

"I joined the air cadets when I was 13 where I got plenty of flying experience. However it was a lot later when I imagined a career in commercial aviation as I didn’t know any commercial pilots who I could ask for advice. I never even thought it could be an option available to me," said Captain Kate McWilliams, an easyJet pilot and former Brownie. "Having been a Brownie myself I am delighted that this new aviation badge will engage girls in the career from an early age. I love being a commercial pilot for easyJet, it’s a fantastic career and anyone with an interest should consider it."

"As part of our Amy Johnson Initiative, we have always believed in the importance of role models, which is why we are really excited about partnering with Girlguiding, to engage with groups of young people in schools and other organisations to inspire and educate them about aviation," said Captain Marnie Munns, lead pilot for easyJet’s Amy Johnson Flying Initiative. "My grandfather was a pilot and my parents were incredibly supportive of my career choices so it is thanks to the roles models I had that I am where I am today."

easyJet’s Amy Johnson Flying Initiative continues to deliver results and is on target to meet its ambitions for 20% of new entrant co-pilots to be female by 2020. Last year the airline revealed that female new entrant co-pilot numbers were up by 48% on the numbers joining the previous year. This takes the proportion of easyJet new entrant female pilots to 13% at a time when newly published research by the International Society of Women Airline Pilots found that just over 4% of the world’s airline pilots are female.

The new Girlguiding badges and activities will centralize around six themes, Skills for my Future, Have Adventures, Be Well, Know Myself, Express Myself and Take Action, expanding girls’ choices and equipping them with more skills and knowledge they can utilize now and in the future.

(Image provided with Girlguiding news release)

FMI: www.girlguiding.org.uk