Gender discrimination in Air India and Indian Airlines

An epitome of beauty, she is full of grace, radiates warmth and keeps you comfortable in every way. She is indeed Air India's hostess - which distinguishes her from her counterparts in other jobs.

A typical Air-India hostess is warm with a pleasing personality. A keen interest in people and places along with being dedicated and conscientious is what makes her unique. She is intelligent, committed, enthusiastic and creative. Her traditional welcome is like no other's and for her it is a pleasure more than a duty to serve you as a special guest aboard Air-India.

The above is from www.airindia.com.The below is from the Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

Presentability and physical appearance of candidates aspiring to become air hostesses at Air-India (AI) and Indian Airlines (IA) is more important than written tests.A memorandum sent out by the Ministry of Civil Aviation directs future recruitment of air hostesses is primarily on the basis of looks and personality, rather than academics or intelligence.

The Supreme Court has ordered that air hostesses, once they cross 50, should only be assigned ground duties.

"This is blatant gender discrimination," said Maldeep Sidhu, a former Air-India air hostess and now a practising lawyer.

Air-India has 753 air hostesses and as many as 600 have put their signatures on a petition protesting the Supreme Court order. The signatories are from all age groups — between 29 and 50.

The apex court judgment has a string of negative implications for the 50-plus air hostesses.

Their earnings will be reduced by 75 per cent as they will not be paid flight allowances.

In principle, everyone agrees there should be gender equality. But, in practice, they continue to face the bias and are humiliated on every single flight.

• Air-India’s air-hostesses are considered junior to all male cabin crew, irrespective of the number of years they have served in the airline.
• Air-hostesses are not eligible for the top crew position of Flight Supervisors though they are trained in training schools.
• All air-hostesses, from age 35 on, are required to undergo a biennial medical examination while there is no such requirement for men. Recently, an internal gynaecological check-up has been included which women staff say has no bearing on ‘‘in-flight fitness.’’
• While men and women are required to have regular weight checks, only the women are grounded on account of excessive weight. There have been instances when men have been allowed to fly despite being as much as 40 kg overweight.
• Only men are eligible for the monthly bar loss allowance of 30 pounds a month. This allowance is a compensation for what the AI management assumes are losses arising out of non-payment by passengers buying liquor on flight. Assistant flight pursers and Supervisors who don’t handle the cash also get the allowance.

The normal duties of an air hostess in any airline include:

They serve refreshmentsLook after passengers
Take special care of those unwell
Keep an eye on possible breaches of securityAdminister first aid in an emergency
Ensure the safety of passengers in the event of a hijack or terrorist threat

These are tasks air hostesses of IA and AI have performed with courage and distinction. Exactly which part of their job description places a premium on physical appearance?Protecting passengers should be the primary concern of any airline in the event of increasing risks such as terrorist attacks or hijacks.Equally important are concerns such as air rage. These could affect other passengers and such situations need to be handled with tact and patience.

It would be wrong and unsafe if the Civil Aviation Ministry ignored such vital issues and confined itself to superficial and chauvinistic jargon — about market feedback showing air hostesses having to be young and pretty for IA and AI to compete effectively.

No doubt, in a service industry like air travel, presentability of the crew has to be ensured. But by no logic can this justify different criteria for men and women, allowing men to continue to fly till the age of 58 but grounding women at 50.

The truth is IA and AI are unable to compete effectively because they have an ageing fleet; their aircraft need to replaced.

They are unable to compete effectively because the Civil Aviation Ministry bears the burden of cross-subsidy of petrol and diesel, leading to a very high cost of aviation turbine fuel.

They are unable to compete effectively because rather than being managed professionally, they are run by a constantly changing stream of IAS officers. These officers learn about the aviation industry after being appointed and are transferred before they get a feel for its intricacies.

It was Rajiv Gandhi who first attempted to remove the degrading and discriminatory service conditions of air hostesses by issuing a directive restoring male-female parity. This directive was subsequently watered down by the ministry.

The Air-India Air Hostesses’ Union is going to seek a review of the Supreme Court judgment grounding air hostesses when they reach 50 years of age.

Former Union law minister Ram Jethmalani, who had argued the case on behalf of the air hostesses in the apex court last week, met civil aviation minister Rajiv Pratap Rudi to urge the government to intervene in the matter.