For this Mother’s Day, some of easyJet’s high-flying parents took their daughters behind the scenes at work, in a bid to inspire the next generation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
The airline is raising awareness of STEM career opportunities in aviation and in professions where women are underrepresented across the industry, including its apprenticeships in Engineering, IT, Data and Artificial Intelligence, as well as its Graduate Programmes in Engineering and Finance and its airline pilot training programme.
The move seeks to bust traditional gendered stereotypes of these professions and encourage more young women to explore these careers, by showing young people that all jobs are for everyone. It follows recent research which has suggested that based on current trends, it would take 22 years (until 2044) for the same number of women to be starting STEM apprenticeships as men.*
easyJet offers 17 apprenticeships ranging from Engineering to Data and Artificial Intelligence and Business Analytics as well as beyond STEM in HR, Legal and Leadership, providing opportunities not just for school leavers and graduates but for continuous professional development that allow people to progress and excel in their careers.
The campaign is part of the airline’s ongoing work to support employability and early careers opportunities and to drive a more diverse community within the airline and the aviation industry as a whole.
It follows the launch of a partnership with a diversity in aviation youth organisation Fantasy Wings to provide young people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds and young women with greater opportunity to launch a career in the industry, through Fantasy Wings’ aviation career development programme. easyJet is sponsoring places for students from 50 schools across the UK to join the programme, which is designed to equip young people with the necessary tools they need to succeed in the industry and land their first-time role through skills development, practical knowledge training, career mentorship by industry leaders and even flight training.
The airline has also launched a team of Enterprise Advisors – easyJet employees from across the business including Engineering and Maintenance, IT and Data and Operations – who are partnered with local schools in the Luton and Gatwick areas, home to the airline’s largest UK operations, to provide careers advice and employability support to young people.
Since 2016, the airline’s Pilot School Visits programme has seen pilots visit hundreds of schools up and down the country for young people to learn more about the career, focused on encouraging more girls to become an airline pilot.
* Analysis by the Labour Party conducted as part of National Apprenticeship Week
