Flight Tales: This Naari has all the Right Attitude at an Altitude

At the beginning of my flight attendant career, I was indecently propositioned by an airline executive during the selection process. I refused his offer and he declined the job opening to me. In the coming years, I have heard of so many injustices fought and survived by female crew members. A major salute to those brave women who continue to work above the clouds dedicatedly.

But this write-up is not about any of those cases.

I am also going to be a little biased here and turn a blind eye to the issues of male flight attendants.

It's Women's Day after all!

From my experience, the airline industry is generally very open-minded and crew members enjoy professional yet easygoing equations. It isn't utopia, but gender is never the reason for inequality in pay packets and promotions and the acceptance of women bosses comes rather easily to their male subordinates. Yet, even in this fairly blissful environment, this 2018, I would like to see an ease in other genuine concerns that eternally frustrate the ladies.

Many female flight attendants become soft targets for the disproportionate development of flab pockets on their anatomies.

The skinniness of some new hires is gradually lost in subsequent years owing to the consumption of aircraft food, erratic schedules, sleep deprivation and the general lack of time for exercise. Sisterhood is experienced among some by the gain of both seniority and saddlebags.

Observing their uniforms becoming tighter and further recruitment of bony new crew, women are easily reminded of their past slenderness.

And what about those paper-thin ones that seem to hold a monopoly over the highest metabolism rate? They tend to put on weight only between their toes.

And mind you some crew members who are mothers make miracles happen. They balance out their baby woes and gym sessions perfectly and look better proportioned than the single ladies. With shapely ambitions, girls find themselves hunting for connections with trainers and diets with fancy names.

Since airlines swear by politically correct behaviour, nobody resorts to cruel shaming that could happen elsewhere. Until the obsession is limited to fitness – and not perfect bodies – things are fine.

But what do we do about the self-doubt that some women inflict upon themselves by making comparisons? Intense group discussions on board flights revolve only around their fuller figures and their connection to their love-hate relationship with food.

If one’s irregular shape is spotted by the grooming department (Appearance Police) in some airlines, a stern reminder is issued to the overweight crew member to ditch the wine and cheese and go for a run – or go home and stay there till they come down to their required weight.

In case of unavoidable medical conditions, professional help is prescribed.

The glamorous grooming executives also teach many girls the art of applying makeup on the job. Eventually, each crew member develops her own style of the mandatory face painting.

For my airport look, I like to wear a 'thin' outline of eyeliner.

But right at 3 am when I have dragged myself out of bed to get dressed for a flight duty and concentration can be a little questionable, serious inequality decides to strike at my eye makeup skills. The application ends up being uneven. The process of constant levelling on both eyelids gets my eyeliner so thick that I eventually resemble a classical dancer without the talent.

In my aviation career span, which covers some major international companies, I was certain I had met myriad types of persons and felt I had figured people out.

But then I flew with this one – thankfully, just one flight attendant – who had a deep complex about her dark skin. The airline fraternity that I had gotten to know rather closely over the years wasn't even remotely influenced by skin colour. I understood every insecurity, but this one was beyond me. If the employing airline, fellow crew members, passengers and even her husband didn't care for her skin colour, why did something so superficial affect her so much? While my airline did stress on clear, healthy skin, it never cared for a fair tone like some sections of the general public.

Any attempts to explain this to her proved futile. Just because another girl on our crew was lighter-complexioned than her, she would – whenever we went shopping – keep an eye on any facial products she bought for tips on fairness!

My mind goes back to the time when I worked for an American carrier. Interestingly, their selection criteria for flight attendants does not have a height, weight and age limit like most airlines of the world. In fact, one is not even required to have clear skin. On a flight at stupid o’clock, if a crew member does not want to wear eyeliner, that’s perfectly fine too.

In my book, Nothing but the Plane Truth: Revelations by a Flight Attendant, I have shared many snippets of incredible crew behaviours. An eternally tall, slim, luminous skinned and perfectly made-up crew member is just a stereotype that some of us would like to laugh off. Even if professional requirements do not allow deviations, it is important for us to not associate our self-esteem with inevitable physical and physiological changes.

Happy Women's Day ladies!

Look back at your lives and recognise how many miracles you have made by yourselves! No superficial factors can ever decide your self-worth. Don't ever allow them to.

(Pinky Eppaturi is the author of Nothing but the Plane Truth: Revelations by a Flight Attendant)

(Hey there, lady! What makes you laugh? Do you laugh at sexism, patriarchy, and misogyny? Do 'sanskaari' stereotypes crack you up? This Women's Day, join The Quint's Ab Laugh Naari campaign. Pick up that beer, say cheers, and send us photographs or videos of you laughing out loud at [e-mail].)