Unparalleled Opportunities
While most former flight attendants argue that their encounters with workplace sexism were unacceptable, others emphasize that the opportunities afforded by their career were unparalleled for the time.
"If I wanted to fly, I had to accept the conditions."
-Martha Casne, President of RAFA and former flight attendant
"It was really very limited: you could be a nurse, a librarian, or a schoolteacher. And I just checked those things off as being boring. I really thought of aviation." 
A 1969 American Airlines ad depicting stewardess Sandy Norris and describing the coveted life of a stewardess as glamorous, like a never-ending party in the sky. (American Airlines, 1969)
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A brochure advertising the adventure of becoming a stewardess (SWFR)
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"Was it fair? Probably not, but I enjoyed every moment of it. We were getting our hair and nails done in New York. It was a glamorous lifestyle..." 
Data showing the limited the options for women in the 1970's other than being a flight attendant. (Moles/Freidman 1974)
"Flying was an opportunity to move around the country. Something women hadn’t done before.... It gave a girl an opportunity to go around the country or world and see things." |
(SWFR)
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"When first hired I simply accepted the regulations. As time went on I came to resent many of them." |
But AT WHat Cost?
A woman should not have to turn herself into an object to be able to hold a coveted position like a stewardess.
"Being a stewardess was a transition, not a career. This was not a profession, this was a transition between graduating from college and then finding Mr. Right and having the split level ranch with the station wagon in the driveway and two kids in private schools. They even called it the charm farm." |
A re-enactment of the sexual harassment that flight attendants regularly experienced. (Lowbrow, 2015)
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"Self-objectification in a culture in which a woman is a “good object” when she meets the salient cultural standard of “sexy” leads girls to evaluate and control their own bodies more in terms of their sexual desirability to others than in terms of their own desires, health, wellness, achievements, or competence" |
Work without reward
In addition to sexual discrimination, flight attendants worked long, hard hours with little pay, far from the glamorous ideals of a 'sky girl'.
"Pilots, on whose physical condition much more depended, got away with many fewer physical requirements and weigh ins, a fact visible in red faces and potbellies. They also earned an average of 400 percent more that flight attendants..." |
"The airline industry seems to think they are doing a favor when they give a person a job as a steward or stewardess. They are prone to forget that these people have done more to sell airplane traveling to the American people than any other single factor. [Flight attendant's] duties are many and exacting and should be compensated accordingly. A file clerk in any business organization today makes more money [than flight attendants], and file clerks do not have to buy their uniforms and look like cover girls at all times." |
"...the exciting world of travel was an attractive alternative to teaching, nursing, or office jobs. Although as it turned out the glamour was in the eye of the beholder. New flight attendants worked long hours, had short layovers, and very little control over their professional life." |
