By So what are the odds of this hiring practice ending?:
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South Korea’s official human rights watchdog urged Korean Air Lines Co. on Wednesday to stop banning male job seekers from applying for flight attendant positions, saying the policy violates a law banning sex discrimination.
However, Korean Air said it has no intention of abiding by the watchdog’s advice because it “seriously” violates an individual company’s rights to formulate its own hiring system.
The state-run National Human Rights Commission said the country’s largest airline has not recruited new male cabin crew since 1997. It said Korean Air has been filling male crew positions from those working at other in-house divisions.
The commission’s advice is not legally binding, but investigator Na Sang-won said that if Korean Air does not comply, the watchdog may ask the Labor Ministry to take punitive action.
Korea’s law on equal opportunity in employment carries a maximum penalty of a 5 million won ($3,810) fine. [Associated Press]
Let’s see, pay a $3,810 fine or keep hiring attractive women that I am willing to bet the majority of the airline’s customers would probably want?
What do you think?
5:57 am on December 29th, 2008 1
I’ll chip in to pay the fine… Hell – I’ll pay the whole damn thing…
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6:26 am on December 29th, 2008 2
“…the majority of the airline’s customers would probably want?”
What, female customers too?
Either way, I share fantasies about stewardesses just as much as the next guy, but when it comes to the decidedly mundane reality of flying I’d much prefer friendly, understanding, experienced and/or diplomatic staff of any age or sex over mere eye candy that I have less than a million to one chance of joining the mile-high club with.
According to the Korea Times, the ratio is 9 to 1 women to men at Korean Air…come on guys, we’re not talking about Hooters Restaurant or “Exotic Dancing” clubs, so I fail to see what’s so special about airlines that somehow makes such blatant discrimination acceptable.
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6:52 am on December 29th, 2008 3
The last thing I want is some gay dude serving me drinks when I’m 35,000 feet in the air, facing eminent death at any moment.
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7:08 am on December 29th, 2008 4
I say majority of passengers because every time I have flown on Korean Air it appeared to me the majority of the passengers were male. I don’t think Korean Airlines would hire so many females if its customers did not want it.
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7:33 am on December 29th, 2008 5
Yeah, I realized that after I finished typing, and I concede your point. But the fact that hordes of ajosshis want only young attractive women on the plane doesn’t somehow make it morally right to refuse the job to men or women over 30. I mean jeez, it’s nearly 2009, but Korean Air is still firmly stuck in the 1960s, and so if some institutions and industries have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, then so be it. I say good on the Human Rights watchdog for shaming them.
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8:19 am on December 29th, 2008 6
James that I can agree with that it is not morally right but I don’t think Korean Air cares about what is morally right when compared to their bottom line. Especially in today’s economic climate where these airlines have to do everything possible to attract passengers to use their airline.
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8:59 am on December 29th, 2008 7
I find air travel in Asia to be refreshing after seeing how American airlines compete with each other to hire the fattest, oldest and ugliest flight attendants to avoid lawsuits by demonstrating they hire more ragged looking women than the industry average.
Men should be firemen and women should be flight attendants and that’s just the way it is.
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11:53 am on December 29th, 2008 8
Yep, who want’s to be doted on by a gay dude or Cargo Margo who throws peanuts at you and sneers when you want a drink God forbid when you have young hotties giving you service with a smile.
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2:41 pm on December 29th, 2008 9
Sex discrimination is bad, and I do agree that Korea Air needs to open up to male applicants. Don’t worry guys, I think that after decades of it being a female-dominated industry, I don’t think you’ll have too many men applying for positions like this. Kind of like having a male nurse. What a ridiculous idea! *cough* Until recently.
But issues of sex discrimination aside, Korea shouldn’t be taking cues from the West on how to run its airlines or its flight crews. The people I’ve dealt with flying over here from the States were brutes, and treated the foreigners in coach like dirt. You know “foreigners” . . . the Koreans flying to Korea, the Chinese flying out of Hong Kong. Let’s not rush to hire anybody under the sun just for the sake of being “fair.” Isn’t providing good, pleasant service also fair? With the sense of entitlement that goes along with jobs also comes the sense of entitlement that causes people in customer service positions to resent their clients.
Korean customer service is light years beyond what we tolerate back home, and I don’t think we’re too at risk right now to see it devolve into that. Korea does need to open this up to male applicants who wish to . . . apply, but I hope we don’t see other special interests hacking into an industry that, let’s face it, Korea and Asia do very well. We can take some cues from the west regarding race and sex discrimination, but let’s also look at all the damage political correctness has done.
And as an aside, those flight attendants must have a short shelf-life, even if you don’t count the age ceiling that might exist . . . aren’t Koreans notorious for being tough passengers? Haven’t experienced that myself, but . . . people talk.
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3:24 pm on December 29th, 2008 10
[...] reports on a classic case of feminists threatening state power against the rights of a company — Will Korean Airlines Stop Hiring Only Female Fight Attendants? Here’s the story in a nutshell:South Korea’s official human rights watchdog urged Korean Air Lines [...]
3:33 pm on December 29th, 2008 11
I fly on KAL often… and don’t find many of the stewardesses to be all that attractive. I’m not saying they’re butt ugly – but very few of them are so pretty that you get off the plane thinking, “Damn! Those were some hot looking stewardesses!!”
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6:42 pm on December 29th, 2008 12
Companies selling goods and services to both sexes often target men. This is especially true in Korea. I often saw advertisements featuring pudgy, plain ajosshis standing next to petite, pretty women. Although women are making inroads into career-path employment with companies, Korean businesses are still male-dominated; hence, marketing is for men by men unless the product is make-up, diet pills, or something else that is mostly consumed by women.
One of my pet peeves about airlines in general are the seats with headrests appropriate for someone 5′9″-6′0″ tall. Those damn headrests push forward the heads of shorter folks, bending the neck uncomfortably.
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1:32 pm on December 30th, 2008 13
[...] Drop is running a poll asking readers, “Do you want Korean Airlines [to] hire male flight attendants”? At the time of [...]
9:21 am on March 2nd, 2009 14
[...] For some reason Google Reader only yesterday gave me the last seven of Aaron McKenzie’s posts at Idiot’s Collective, so earlier I missed his take on a lengthy feature in the JoongAng Daily about the discrimination against male flight attendants in the Korean airline industry, by coincidence the issue which prompted me to start these weekly posts in the first place. For my take on the issue from when it first arose in late December last year, see ROK Drop here. [...]