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(Bird, 2012)

the bfoq defense

          Airlines have argued that the mistreatment of stewardesses was simply the airlines exercising their right to apply Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications (BFOQ) while hiring flight attendants.
"Airlines fended off sex discrimination lawsuits for refusing to hire male stewards by maintaining that the care and feeding of passengers was so particularly 'feminine' that it amounted to a 'BFOQ' - a bona fide occupational qualification - otherwise reserved for wet nurses and sperm donors."
          -Gloria Steinem
​"Although the eradication of gender discrimination should be a top priority,it is not paramount. We live
in a society in which gender roles are so deeply ingrained within our conceptions and understanding of appropriateness of social interactions, that BFOQ defenses are, at times, an inevitable necessity."
          -Katie Manley, author of The BFOQ Defense

what is bfoq?

"Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) [is] a defense to acknowledged discrimination, usually based on the existence of a facially discriminatory policy, such as 'individuals over the age of 50 shall not be hired as police officers.' Title VII permits you to discriminate on the basis of 'religion, sex, or national origin in those instances where religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the particular business or enterprise.'"
          -Cornell Law Encyclopedia

Hooters

     The restaurant Hooters is infamous for only hiring women with specific physical qualities and requiring objectifying uniforms. This practice has been deemed completely legal under the BFOQ defense, because the job of a Hooters hostess was cited as providing sex appeal, not serving food. 

"An often cited example of this practice is Hooters' policy of hiring only female waitresses. ... While the female servers may be preferred by the majority of customers and thus increase business,  ...the company was sued in 1994 for its gender discriminatory hiring. Hooters raised the BFOQ exception as a defense... that permitted the company to continue excluding men from its server positions, but mandated the creation of gender neutral positions for bartenders and hosts."
          -​Katie Manley
The required uniform, comparable to those of 70's flight attendants, worn by Hooters hostesses. (Hooters, 2006)
"Q: What kinds of rules does Hooters have for the waitresses?
A: Hooters is actually very strict. Nails have to be French or nude. You're only allowed to wear a ring on your ring finger, no other jewelry. Your hair has to be done. You have to have a full face of makeup on. There's a certain way you have to wear your uniform. It's already Hooters, so we don't want you to look tacky!"
          -Interview with Courtney Dietz, a Hooters Waitress, Cosmopolitan Magazine, 2015

why the bfoq defense does not apply to Flight Attendants

    A flight attendant's job is to ensure the safety of the customers, not to strip for them, so airlines cannot legally hire based on sex appeal despite the BFOQ defense. 
"The lower court decisions on Title VII were beginning to be overturned, and it was clear that sex would not be a bona fide occupational qualification for flight attendants."
          -Georgia Panter Nielsen
"Stewardesses are the only airline employees who are checked on uniform and appearance... It's like the quality control department in an industrial plant. The procedure is really sick, and in no way supports a woman's health producing, maturing mechanism."
          -David Roadhouse, psychiatric counselor who has treated many flight attendants