A Chinese airline has been criticized over a new policy imposing strict weight requirements on female flight attendants.
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The airline, which is one of the biggest in China, also emphasized the importance of female flight attendants’ appearance for the company’s image, the report added.Liu Tao, a lawyer in Dalian, China, with more than 10 years of experience in labor law disputes and civil rights, told NBC News that the airline’s policy was “very inappropriate and obviously illegal in China” and could constitute employment discrimination.
“This weight standard could only be legitimized if Hainan Airlines asked for every employee’s agreement in advance with signed notifications and consent forms,” he said.Rachel Liu, a flight attendant at a different Chinese airline, said that while she and her colleagues were incensed by the Hainan Airlines requirements, they have encountered similar expectations at their own jobs.
She questioned the preference for exclusively thin female cabin crew, “as they can’t even help passengers put away their luggage.”“The flight attendants I need are those who are equipped with professional and safety knowledge and those who wear clothes and shoes suitable enough for dealing with emergency incidents. Their weight is none of my business,” read one comment on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
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