fatemeh's round table

SMAyoub — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:51:20 -0600

I love MMW. I think Fatemeh did a fantastic job. The whole idea of freedom in the sky feels a bit romanticized to me, especially as a Muslim woman prone to stereotypes, but fascinating nonetheless.

Up Up and Go Away

Pam — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:06:03 -0600

I read that article and was depressed by what the writer was saying - though it mirrors what I've heard from flight attendants and pilots (off the record) when I've had the chance to talk with them about their jobs. It seems like a well funded airlines would be a great place to get to work, and if the Gulf carriers give good jobs to women and get them out to see the world, well hallelujah. It sounds like a step in the right direction. Though I'll be the first to admit that I'm looking through a western lens.

Nerd's Eye View
@nerdseyeview

Fly Me: Freedom or Sexism in Flight Attendant Jobs?

Suzanne Reisman — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:38:33 -0600

At the end of December, The New York Times ran two articles two days in a row about flight attendants. In the first, Katherine Zoepf profiled young women from Arab countries who left home to become flight attendants for Etihad, an airline based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The next day, Ann Hood (who will be my writing workshop instructor next semester - very exciting!) penned an op-ed looking back fondly on her days as a TWA flight attendant and the pride that airlines had in serving customers well.

The Dec. 22 article In Booming Gulf, Some Arab Women Find Freedom in the Skies, 9th in a series about life in the Muslim world, generated debate in the comments section not only about cultural bias and what constitutes "freedom," but also what the role of stewardess means historically. In the comments, people slammed the author for her American view of freedom, the lack of information about other job opportunities that are available to women in the Middle East, and other comments that supported the stewardesses as pioneers for freedom.

For a great summary of bloggers' criticism of the article, check out Fatemeh's round up at Muslimah Media Watch. She notes that the article is, "often eye-rollingly essentializing when discussing Arab women and society."

Grapeshisha, a site about life in the UAE, diplomatically summed up the discussion:

...while the article appears to be factually correct, there is no discussion of other professions that Arab women have used to further themselves in society. And to an outsider,or someone not in the know the assumption is that a the furthest that a woman can go from being a housewife is to become a stewardess! I'm sure that is not what is intended. Nevertheless, the premise still holds that some women have changed their life through using the skies and the freedom associated with being a stewardess - that versus an option of not traveling or seeing the world.

An interesting article that could have been furthered by providing some exact data as well as looking at the wider impact of girl power in the Middle East.

Danielle at Sticky Candy had mixed feelings about the message:

The article is about young, unmarried Arab women have now found a career that lets them see the world. Yes, good, but it seems as if these women fit the archaic {albeit American} view of what a being a flight attendant means.

I get it. Being a flight attendant allows these Arab women to face new freedoms, but how much exactly? I can't claim that I understand any of this. I certainly don't. My view is very much an Americanized view of Women's Rights, but I can only imagine that these women who have decided to follow their ambitions and beliefs, have also alienated their families and their home countries. Is this a cost that Arab women are willing to take?

Being flight attendants, these women seem to become pigeonholed in two different ways...

The Dec. 23rd article on flight attendants, Up, Up and Go Away struck me as particularly interesting because of the pride Hood describes that went along with her job as a flight attendant at TWA, back when "we passed out magazines, offered playing cards to bored passengers, refilled coffee cups" and "we had dignity — passengers and crews alike. We were together up there at 35,000 feet, and for those hours in the clouds and stars, all of our worries stayed on the ground below." Hood saw the job in the same way as the women who work on Etihad planes do today: a chance to interact with people and travel.

Some of the harshest criticism directed at the article about careers as flight attendants for Arab women is that the jobs are serivle, and thus sexist. In addition, the old "Fly Me" ad was cited to show that flight attendants are all hired because they are young and pretty. While there is no doubt that some of this is true, a lot of it is as out of date as the ad is. Musings from Jane Air has an interesting history of the field of cabin attendants, and reports that men make up about 20% of the flight attendant workforce today. Dress codes, weight restrictions, and other requirements that led to job offers only for the young and beautiful in the early days are in many cases in violation of anti-discrimination laws today, and thus no longer have as much impact on who gets hired. (Not that the industry is without problems regarding age discrimination, it's just not as bad today as it was years ago.) Etihad seems to be caught somewhere between the 1950s and current times in their policies.

Blogs by flight attendants, like The Flying Pinto and Another Flight Attendant Writing About Flying (and Other Stuff), capture the occupational hazards and rewards of working in the airline industry. It's a hard job, and like many jobs that predominately are performed by women, the wages are low. Today's working conditions are more stressful than ever. Still, whether a woman is American or Egyptian or Brazilian, working a flight crew may provide opportunities to see the world that few other people have, and that chance is something to be prized.

Suzanne also blogs at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants. Her first book, Off the Beaten (Subway) Track, is about unusual things to see and do in New York City.

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fatemeh's round table

Up Up and Go Away

Fly Me: Freedom or Sexism in Flight Attendant Jobs?