to be MAD about bloody Lego Friends airport, where the pilot is a MAN.

[changeshow]

Got Lego Catalogue today. Looking through at all the exciting and colourful stuff for boys. Got to the Lego Friends page. Looking at the nice plane, check the figures.........

FLIGHT ATTENDANT SANDRA and PILOT DAVID. WTAF! Why is the pilot a bloke?!

Did no one at Lego has the wit to say 'errr women can be pilots'?

AIBU to be seriously unimpressed by this? Makes me bloody cross.

You can fly a plane butt naked if you choose. I just fail to see why she is clad in a skirt that barely covers her backside.

Lego figure's skirt barely covers her backside. Not code writer. Code writer has a decent skirt. I would be happy if Lego figure was wearing that outfit.

Surely it should be realistic and representative of real life? How many women have you ever seen flying a plane?

Not many i bet. Maybe there's a reason for that? If you're completely honest, how safe would you actually feel if you knew a woman was flying your plane?

Not many i bet. Maybe there's a reason for that? If you're completely honest, how safe would you actually feel if you knew a woman was flying your plane?

I have, and perfectly safe, thanks. Why wouldn't you feel safe?

I just dont think they quite have the right skills. There are lots of male-dominated jobs that are fine for women to have a go at, but flying a plane probably isn't one of them to be totally honest!

Oh stop being silly. Go and goady fucker yourself elsewhere.

Having a different opinion to you makes "goady" does it?

It would be a bit boring if everyone had the same view on everything

No what is boring is someone coming onto a thread where lots of posters have been having a jolly time debating over the course of a few days, and being deliberately crass and inflammatory just to piss all over it.

What skills are needed that a man is better at? I think planes have power steering so you don't need to be particularly strong, and the seats are adjustable so even a quite short woman could probably reach the controls.

Ok, sorry.

Evidence that there are skills women lack (including those on this thread)? Or are you just speaking from a position of ignorant prejudice?

As mentioned elsewhere - your opinion isn't worth much if all the evidence points in a different direction. Its only function is to make you look like a fool - which is useful for the rest of society, I guess.

It's to do with speed/distance perception, spacial awareness, coordination etc.

multitasking ability would probably come in handy tho!

Don't feed it...

Wow it must be scary to walk out the door, if you really believe that. Think about all those car drivers out there, with no speed/distance perception or coordination, apparently..

Ah, so no evidence. Grand. Thanks for providing that public service though, really does help people out to know who's pointless to listen to.

Ok, a genuine question.

No one disputes that there are many more make pilots than female. What is the reason for this? Is it due to ability, or less women choosing to become pilots? Does it matter that there are more male pilots?

Do you think a female lego pilot would increase the chances of more women becoming pilots?

I just dont think they quite have the right skills

Wouldn't it be better to judge each person on their own merits? There are plenty of men who don't have the right skills to become a pilot, and plenty of women who do. Why reduce the pool of applicants unnecessarily?

Do you think a female lego pilot would increase the chances of more women becoming pilots?

Actually yes this could happen, as part of a wider move to make toy brands more inclusive. If more girls become interested in scientific/adventure/practical/engineering type toys as children, more of them might pick maths and science subjects later on, and thus be more likely to apply for these types of degrees and careers.

On the basis that McColonel is too busy being a goady fucker to bother to learn how to google, there is an interesting article here

Here is an article that talks about some of the factors. From further reading, a major factor globally seems to be that military aviation appears to be a major route into commercial flying. Equally there has been a lengthy discussion here on women in STEM-related careers in general.

For something more academic, I recommend Correll's 2004 study on “Constraints into preferences: gender, status, and emerging career aspirations”

Also worth noting the comments of BALPA's General secretary that 85% of their members chose the career to fulfil a long-cherished childhood dream - huge motivation being important as it's a very tough field in which to qualify, full stop. A BA research poll showed that a lack of female role models had contributed to an idea that flying was 'for men' - wiping out the dream for many girls before it could even take root.

BA don't seem to be too worried about women flying their very expensive planes. They're trying to recruit more.

Sorry if someone's mentioned this already, only read the first page:

Skiptonlass:
One thing I notice here in Scandinavia is there's none of this blue vs pink crap. Toys are just divided up by function, so there's a shelf for books, one for puzzles, one for building sets, one for soft toys, etc. much better.

No. No no no no no no. There's no 'here in Scandinavia' about this issue. Sweden, sure. Denmark (home of Lego), on the other hand, is still firmly blue for boys, pink for girls. Read some stuff about it. It's like a bizarre blind spot. I swear it's worse than the UK.

Smillas, that's really interesting - I was surprised at how low down the women in engineering league table Denmark was compared to some of its neighbours. Really interesting correlation.

India has the highest ratio of female pilots at over 12% and growing - what are they doing right? (it is unlikely to have anything at all to do with Lego)

In a 2004 study, anthropologist Carol Mukhopadhyay reported that when she asked Indian interviewees to react to the idea that mathematics is inherently masculine, their response was “surprise, laughter, and bewilderment”

Imagine the responses here.

A question for McColonel if she (actually I suspect 'he' is still on here) and the remark How safe would you actually feel if you knew a woman was flying your plane?
Sorry but that one really got to me. Do you not think that female pilots go through EXACTLY the same training as men? Or do you think they get let off in some way?...Oh I know...perhaps they smile sweetly and the Trainer will tick the boxes and let them pass all their flying tests? Is the licence gained perhaps more easily than it is for a man? And what about all the technical exams?
Please explain yourself!

An amazing coincidence. I got on my plane to fly to the training I am running, leaving my DH to look after out DD ALONE and the flight deck tannoy starts, "...your pilot Christine and your co-pilot Dalen (who knows what gender, I never found out)". I thought of you lovely people. And yes, I was perfectly happy with Christine and I am scared of flying.

Obviously there are female pilots and I didn't die horribly. So that was nice. Maybe Lego could make a mini-fig of Christine.

I have worked as a flight attendant for over 20 years. There are an increasing number of female pilots. You don't have to have a dick to fly a plane. In fact a pilot has to be really good at multi tasking which I'd say women are perhaps better than men at?

Many years ago I remember the female pilots would leave the announcements to their male colleagues on the flight deck even if they were going to fly the plane. Luckily times have changed. Last week on a flight we had a female pilot and the crew except for me were all male. Take note Lego.