Female flight attendants refusing to wear headscrarfs as airlines restart service to Iran

[davidn3600]

Air France stewardesses, furious at being ordered to wear headscarves in Tehran, say they will refuse to fly to the Iranian capital when the airline resumes the service later this month.

Female members of flight crews have been ordered to cover their hair once they disembark in Tehran and unions are demanding that the flights be made voluntary for women.

The resumption of a thrice-weekly service between Paris and Tehran, planned for April 17 after an eight-year break, follows a thaw in relations since Iran agreed to dismantle large sections of its nuclear programme.

Iranian women have been forced by law to cover their hair or face stiff fines since the 1979 Islamic revolution. In staunchly secular France, however, public signs of religion have been frowned upon since a 1905 law separating church and state.
---
Ms Rossignol, who describes herself as “a feminist with a modern vision of the family”, was herself embroiled in a row over headscarves last month prompted by Marks and Spencer’s decision to sell the burkini, or full body swimsuit. Women who wear veils or Islamic headscarves, she said, were like “negroes who supported slavery”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/02/air-france-stewardesses-mutiny-over-order-to-wear-headscarves/

There's your culture clash, folks.

[mnhtnbb]

2. Who calls female flight attendants stewardesses any more?

Don't they bid for flights? Why would a female flight attendant want to subject herself to that? Why bid for the flight?

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Bid for flights? They are Union members with salaried positions, not independent contractors making

bids for a shift.

[mnhtnbb]

7. FYI

US owned/operated airlines use a seniority system for assigning flight attendants; those with more seniority
are able to choose flights based on what is called a "bidding" system.

Depending upon seniority, the flight attendant may be directed by a senior flight attendant or may direct the work of a junior flight attendant. You may bid for flights, but the final assignment is determined by seniority. The longer the flight attendant has been employed, the more likely he or she is to work on chosen flights. Domiciles and routes worked are bid for on a seniority basis, and almost all flight attendants work on a reserve status (on call) at one point in their career.

http://www.avjobs.com/careers/detail.asp?Job_Title=Flight%20Attendant&Category=In%20Flight&Related=Airline%20Flight%20Attendant&RecID=96


I have no idea whether flight attendants that work for non-US airlines have any opportunity to request--or bid--for flights.
Usually the flight attendants on international flights of US carriers are multi-lingual and have seniority.

[romanic]

3. Bravo to them.

They shouldn't have to follow some stupid law like that (or the women in Iran for that matter).

[FLPanhandle]

4. Great for them.

For the apologists that say it's "cultural" and not misogyny, here are the Iranian women in 1979 protesting being forced to wear head-coverings...

?w=561&h=368

[cwydro]

5. Good for them!