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Running Head: LITERATURE REVIEW

Kerensa Okano
University of Texas at El Paso
Fall 2014
Professor Vargas-Ortiz

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Abstract
This paper will concentrate on the feminist movement within the stewardess industry during the
1970s and how it has changed overtime. I will evaluate how this industry started in the 1930s
and how it attracted popularity among the women in the 1970s. Although popular airlines such
United Airline, South West Airline, and Pan American World Airways brought in huge gross and
boost in the economy, it created many issues regarded with equality rights and sexist claims and
statements made by the airlines including strict weight, height, age requirements. I also
conducted an interview with a current South West Airline flight attendant of 16 years and will
discuss the differences between then and now. This Literature review will contain several online
book sources as well as a documentary video, newspaper articles, blog and internet sources.

Key Words: Stewardess, flight attendant, inequality, sex symbol, Pan American, sexist.

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Flight Attendants; Symbol of America: A Review of Literature
When World War II finally settled in 1945, many jobs opened up to many American men
and women. Although there were still many equality issue between men and women regardless
of the color of the skin, there were unresolved issues in the industry. However, for women,
becoming a home-stay mom did not remain as the symbolist work by women. Field in nursing,
teaching, and especially becoming a flight attendant became available for women in the 1950s.
The industry grew over the years and it became wildly popular in the 1970s. Yet theres a lot of
questions is to why becoming a flight attendant attracted many women. In this paper I will
evaluate the causes and the reason is to why becoming a flight attendant was popular and how
people portrayed these women in the industry during the feminist movement. As well as how the
flight attendant industry changed over-time after the feminist movement and even post terrorist
attack in September 11th, 2001.
Why were flight attendants positions held mainly by females?
When Pan American World Airways began its first service in 1927, it changed the
country and the world drastically from then on. At the time prohibition of alcohol were still enact
and Pan Am made their business by boarding men and women to escape from prohibition.
(Lennhoff, 2011). However during that time the flight attendants were only male. It was not until
the 1930s when traveling became popular when Pan Am became the first transit aircraft to
travel across the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean in 1935. (Lennhoff, 2011). It was also this time that
all flight attendants were female and female only but in one condition, they had to be a registered
nurse. According to Aviation Online Magazine, only registered nurse were hired by an airline
company because passengers would feel much safer in the hands of the stewardess (N.A., n.d.)

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also the fact that these aircrafts were highly uncomfortable, small, and compacted that these
flight attendants helped many passengers who became sick.
It was not until World War II in 1945 where almost all registered nurse stewardess was
assigned to head to war which meant that airline had to abolish the requirement and started to
hire ordinary common women to become flight attendants. Although the jobs were replaced by
common women, for the first time women were portrayed as hard-working, loyal, and
compassionate as they waited and worked as they were waiting for their soldiers to return home.
Why were women attracted to the flight attendant profession in the 1970s?
The 1970s became the golden age for airline industry. Many airlines were flown by
business men to travel across the nation as well as internationally. It became a privilege to be
able to fly in an airplane. People will dress-up in a nice dress and suit just to get on a plane. It
also meant that the long hours of flight required pretty and petit women to please and to entertain
men travelers. Essentially, becoming a flight attendant became the symbol of America.
According to a book, United Airline had claimed that their airline has brought in 1.2 billion
dollars in 1972. (Whitelegg, 2007, p. 58). This huge economy gross amount was hugely affected
by how the airlines advertised for their company. For example, many airline including Pan
American World Airways, South West Airline, United Airline and many more airlines started to
advertise their airline by persuading men by seductive and sexual phrases and pretty flight
attendants dressed in their miniskirts. The magazine ads and TV commercials to be played by
young women as a flight attendant became extremely popular. For example one of the most
talked about advertisement, Im Cheryl, Fly Me were seen everywhere and attracted many men
to fly their airline that was advertised. According to CNN Travel Article it estimated 23 percent

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of increase in these airline businesses because of the sex symbol of the flight attendants. (Kim,
2012).
In the figure below presents the most common flight attendant attire in the 1970s.

Figure 1: Source: Trevling/CNN.com

The most common stereotypical flight attendants uniform consisted of gogo boots,
miniskirts/short dress/mini short and curled hair. To maintain this image of pretty promiscuous
flight attendants, weight, age, and height regulation was passed in the 1970s as well as a rule that
the flight attendants could not be married nor have any children. All flight attendants at least had
to be five foot two inches and had to be less 120 pounds. Almost all airlines required a regular
weekly or monthly weight check-ins in order to still be qualified to work. They were even
trained how to apply proper make-up and rules on how to do their hair. (Swank, 2008).
In a blog, Christopher Swank interviewed Valerie Waterman, a former Pan American
flight attendant during 1960s to 1970s and asked several questions regarded with the training,
experiences, her thoughts and more. In one of section of the interview, she was asked to talk

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about her training experiences in the Pan Am industry. We were taught how to allow a man to
light our cigarette, lightly touch his hand while looking into his eyes. (Swank, 2008). Waterman
also mentioned that their safety training was fun. (Swank, 2008).This indicates that Pan Am
strongly believed that their appearance and the body language were highly important not much
more than their safety procedures.
How were flight attendants portrayed in the 1970s?
The airline industry grew tremendously in the 1970s. Television ads were everywhere
and magazine ads and posters became popular as well to attract clients. Majority of the clients in
the airline industry were men, therefore the airline advertisement were mainly targeted towards
men. In order to achieve and attract many business male clients, many advertisement portrayed
flight attendants to be the sex symbol for the airline. Towards the mid 1970s to 1980s some
claims were thrown out by the society that the flight attendants were looked upon as
promiscuous and if there were only there to for entertainment purpose only. In a BBC
documentary, one of the retired flight attendant from Pan American Airline comments, Another
town, another men. (Lennhoff, 2011) This comment surely suggests that this flight attendant
were in fact looking for to please men and flirt with the male clients. According to CNN Travel
article, it mentioned that flight attendants that were in Eastern Airline suggested to have a
notebook that stored passengers phone numbers. This perhaps explain the comment that was
mentioned in the documentary, Well I just remember the girls, nothing else. (Lennhoff, 2011).
However not all flight attendants looked upon as themselves to be sexy not promiscuous. One
flight attendant claims, I dont think of myself as a sex symbol or a servant. I think of myself
as somebody who knows how to open the door of a 747 in the dark, upside down and under
water. (Borstelmann, 2012, p.81)

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Many flight attendants even struggled to meet their weight regulation such as one of the
flight attendant in Delta Airline. She claimed that she was put in suspension because she was
twenty-two pounds overweight and was given one month until she can re-apply for the job.
While exercising and spa treatments it became emotionally and physically overwhelming. Once
her employer was notified that she was less than 118 pounds, she was hired. (Whitelegg, 2007, p.
59). Instances such as this, some flight attendants felt that the rules and regulations were sexist
towards women. In the late 1970s flight attendants started to fight for their equal rights in the
airline industry also known as, Stewardesses for Womens Rights (SFWR). (Whitelegg, 2007, p.
58). At first no airline ever paid attention to these women who fought against the weight
regulation and no-marriage rule. However, the media started to notice the flaw in the airline
system. In one occasion, United Airline official stated to the New York Times in 1972, It boils
down to whether some chicks look good in their uniform. If you have fat stewardesses, people
arent going to fly with you. (Whitelegg, 2007, p.58).
Due to the fact that women started to engage in equality issues in the airline industry
several law suit against airlines appeared. In 1971 Mary Sprogis filed a law suit against United
Air Lines because she was released from her job after she got married. Sporgis claimed, This
inconsistent policy was discriminatory. (Hazou, 1990, p.88). Another law suit was filed in this
case, the law suit was filed against Pan American World Airways in 1971. A potential male
flight attendant seeker filed the law suit against the Pan American because of their strict all
female flight attendant policy. Pan Am states, Women handled the non-mechanical functions of
the job better than men. (Hazou, 1990, p.88). Both cases were both found to be illegal. However,
the rules and regulation did not disappear until the 1990s and men were not hired as a flight
attendant until the early 1980s.

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How has the flight attendant field changed over time?
The industry of flight attendants have changed dramatically as the years went by from the
1970s. Many regulations were abolished when women fought for equal rights. By 1990 all
airlines had dropped their height, weight, race, and even started to hire male as flight attendants.
Women were no longer stewardess and the term eventually changed to flight attendant. I
conducted an interview with Monica Roscone who is an experienced flight attendant for South
West airline since 1998. According to Roscone, she saw many rules and regulation that has
changed over the course of 16 years especially after the 9/11 attack. Although there is no
regulation against weight or height there is still a rule that people need to meet in order to be
hired or keep their position as a flight attendant. Roscone states, The flight attendants now have
to be proportionate (personal communication, October 25, 2014) meaning men and women can
be tall or short but their weight have to be proportionate to their height. There are also older
women and men working at her airline compared to when she first began working in the late
1990s. There were still many young flight attendants along with few middle aged people. Now,
Roscone mentions that, there are a lot of retired men and women looking to fly (personal
communication, October 25, 2014). In the figure below, the statistic graph from American
Community Survey data indicates the percentage of different age groups in the airline industry
from 1980 to 2007.

Figure 2: Source: American Community Survey data.

There are huge percentage difference from young flight attendants to middle aged flight
attendants working in the airline companies in the United States. In 1980, there were
approximately 60% of flight attendants their age ranged to 25-34 years old. However in 2007
there were only 15.8% of flight attendants that were 25-34 years old. An article from Population
Reference Bureau suggested that because of the ongoing economy crisis especially after 9/11 the
senior flight attendants became more likely to stay and that their retirement were more likely to
be postponed compare to other U.S. workers. (
Conclusion
It is evident that although becoming a flight attendant seemed very glamorous and such a
privilege for those women in the 1970s, majority of the women suffered from inequality and
portrayed upon themselves as a sex symbol. Although some flight attendants intended to look

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sexy and get attention from the male clients, it certainly the age of one of the biggest feministic
movement in the history. There are many work forces that struggles due to inequality from men
to women and even racial conflicts are still present. However women should have just as the
same power of equality as men do in the very competitive industry.

Reference

Borstelmann, T. (2012). The 1970s: A New Global History from Civil Rights to Economic

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Inequality. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Retrieved from
http://www.questiaschool.com

Hazou, W. (1990). The Social and Legal Status of Women: A Global Perspective. New York:

Praeger. Retrieved from http://www.questiaschool.com

Kim, M. (2012, July 18). Gallery: Sexy flight attendant uniforms of the past | CNN Travel.
Retrieved from http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/play/gallery-sexy-flight-attendantuniforms-past-583394
Lennhoff, S. (2011, November 12). Come fly with me: the story of pan am [Video file].
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcgoUSs5WCY

Saenz, R., & Evans, L. (2009, June). The changing demography of u.s. flight attendants.
Retrieved from
http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2009/usflightattendants.aspx
Swank, C. (2008, May 28). Interview: Come Fly With Us The Story of a Real Pan Am
Stewardess. Retrieved from http://www.ultraswank.net/interview/come-fly-with-us/

Whitelegg, D. (2007). Working the Skies: The Fast-Paced, Disorienting World of the Flight

Attendant. New York: New York University Press. Retrieved from

http://www.questiaschool.com

N.A. (n.d.). History of the Flight Attendant. Retrieved from

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http://avstop.com/history/history/flightattendant.html