easyJet has launched a new recruitment campaign to encourage girls to become pilots, turning Top Gun on its head.
The airline is aiming to tackle job stereotypes as well as inspire more young people into working in aviation.
In a new recruitment film, scenes from the ’80s blockbuster film Top Gun has been given a modern makeover.
In the original film, starring Tom Cruise, all the lead pilot roles are played by an all-male cast.
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easyJet’s film features a powerful twist to the popular action movie, flipping the roles with girls playing all the pilots.
Alongside the film, the budget carrier has released new research that suggests that people believe gender stereotypes are dominating Hollywood films.
Hollywood is thought to perpetuate gender stereotypes when it comes to job roles for men and women, according to four in five of those polled in a survey of 3,000 parents and their children.
Most of the parents said there are misconceptions that being a pilot is a job for men.
At the moment, only around 6% of pilots worldwide are women.
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easyJet has been trying to tackle this gender imbalance over the last few years and has actually doubled the number of female pilots in its ranks since 2015.
Chief executive Johan Lundgren said: “Top Gun is one of the most famous aviation films of all time, so we wanted to create our own rendition of the movie that was both entertaining and inspiring to a younger audience, to show young people that they don’t have to be limited by outdated stereotypes of jobs in the industry.
“EasyJet has long championed greater diversity across our business and the industry and, while we have made important progress in areas like our pilot community, there is still work to do.”
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