The Girlguiding movement is reported to be introducing an award for would-be pilots in conjunction with EasyJet.
Brownies will be able to work towards a dedicated aviation badge that will require girls aged seven to ten to learn about the basic principles of flight and build their own model aircraft.
The Girlguiding charity has signed a deal with the budget airline to offer the badge to 200,000 girls in the UK from this summer, The Times reported.
The aim is to inspire a generation of young girls to consider a career as a pilot and address a traditional gender imbalance on the flight deck where women make up less than 5% of commercial airline pilots at present.
The aviation badge is the first of the new wave to be confirmed by the organisation, with EasyJet providing sponsorship, materials, pilot speakers and the chance to visit the airline’s bases as part of the link-up.
To earn the new badge, Brownies, the second of four age sections in the Girlguiding movement, will be required to create a list of 40 things that fly and investigate how they are powered. They will also be required to put engineering skills to the test by creating their own aircraft experiments with different materials, structures and launch techniques.
The new badge is likely to be completed by tens of thousands of girls in the first 12 months.
It is one of a series of link-ups with industry that the organisation has undertaken in recent years, including one with Rolls-Royce.
Girlguiding said that the badge was designed to empower the next generation of girls to consider a career in aviation.
A survey of EasyJet pilots to mark the announcement found that men were much more likely to be inspired into the industry at an early age. Of those questioned, 55% of men said they had an ambition to be a pilot from at least the age of ten compared with only 18% of female pilots.
Jess Bond, lead volunteer for Girlguiding’s renewal programme, said: “We know from our research that younger girls aspire to all types of careers, including becoming a pilot.
“However, in reality only about 4% of pilots are women. Our partnership will help to tackle the gender stereotypes girls often face as they get older, providing them with relevant skills and building confidence ready for the future.”
Captain Marnie Munns, an EasyJet pilot for 12 years, told The Times: “There is still a public perception that being a pilot is very much a male job.
“A lot of research suggests girls and boys decide by the ages of five to seven what gender-appropriate roles are and that has the potential to shape future ideas about careers.
“We’re trying to dispel that myth by showing that female pilots can be common in the aviation industry.”