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Sex Bias: Airhostesses told not to gain weight |
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June 23, 2000
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - United Airlines discriminated against female flight attendants from 1989 to 1994 by requiring them to stay thinner than their male counterparts, a federal court ruled.
"They wanted attractive, sexy flight attendants," said flight attendant's attorney Edith Benay, referring to United executives. "It was just lack of respect for women who were doing their job well, in some cases for many years. All of a sudden, when they started to gain weight, they were out."
The 2-1 decision Wednesday by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals clears the way for money to be awarded to an undetermined number of the 16,000 flight attendants who worked for United during that time.
Some attendants lost pay when they were suspended or dismissed for being overweight. Others suffered emotionally and physically as they struggled to lose weight - sometimes going so far as fasting for days or donating excessive amounts of blood, according to Benay.
The airline eliminated all weight standards in 1994. Benay said some airlines retain weight standards. But the situation has changed drastically from the 1960s and early 1970s, when flight attendants were routinely required to be unmarried, childless women younger than 35 years old.
A lawyer for United declined to comment on the ruling. Calls placed to the airline's Chicago public affairs office after business hours Wednesday were not returned.
The court said United's weight policy was discriminatory on its face. The rules required women to stay within the ideal weight range for women with medium body frames. By contrast, men had it easy, the court said. Even men with small body frames were free to bulk up so their weight fell into the range for men with large body frames.
Wednesday's opinion reversed a 1995 decision by a federal judge, who ruled that the class-action lawsuit was barred because the issue was settled in 1979. Another judge ruled then that the weight limits were not discriminatory, but had been applied unfairly.
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