Sky-High Expectations

They have to bear it all on pretext of hospitality.

- Narmrata Gulati

The job of the cabin crew is often advertised as a glamorous and lucrative one. Unfortunately, the reality is far from it. The female cabin crew in India work under prejudicial and hostile conditions, which are riddled with sexism and put far-fetched norms of beauty and perfection on them.

Sexualised, Stereotyped and Objectified

To begin with, the cabin crew are stereotyped as women who are an easy lay. Ridhima Batra, a former cabin crew with Jet Airways, scoffs, "Once, my mother's friend actually asked her if air hostesses sit in a pilot's lap."

“The discrimination,” she says, "began right from the time when she chose flying as a career. 'Who will marry you because of your profession! Your in-laws will never accept you!' The people would constantly berate me over my profession."

"It is quite annoying to see passengers have their elbows out of their seats when we're walking around in the aisle. Of course, we will bump into you when that happens!" she mutters.

"It is a nightmare when you're flying passengers from smaller towns like Agra, Patna or Varanasi. Basically, the Indian immigrants returning from the Gulf have a typical chauvinist attitude. They often mix their drinks and get drunk. It gets difficult to handle them afterwards and we try to sober them down, we are constantly gendered.”

Ira Mehta, who has worked as a cabin crew with both Jet Airways and Swiss International, reveals, “Indian airlines are usually extremely stringent about their protocols with regards to the cabin crew's make-up, skin, uniform, grooming etc. Something as small as a pimple or a scar could get you grounded. There are strict rules against wearing spectacles, having piercings or tattoos.