I had assumed with the women’s liberation movement, the days of hot stewardesses were pretty much over. Granted, I’m sure there are lots of attractive folks in the airline crew, but I imagine most of them are there because of their customer service skills and specialized training, not just because of how they look in their uniforms. However, that’s not the case for Turkish Airlines, which has grounded 28 members of its flight staff for being overweight.
The 28 crew members have been told their choices are to lose weight in six months or face reassignment, so nobody’s actually losing their jobs, just their ability to fly as crew. Turkish Airlines released a statement on the situation, saying, “Weight and height are important factors at all airlines. These criteria are important both in terms of appearance and the ability to move about.” Apparently, the tall or portly aren’t good air hosts (still, I can see a point about ability to move around).
Still, you can’t say the airline is being sexist. Only 13 of the 28 crew members being reassigned are women. Hooray equality?
Tags: Turkish Airlines, fat people taken off work schedule, discrimination, fat airline crew grounded, overweight crew removed from airline, 28 airline crew told to lose weight or get reassigned, employment
