Hopes Flying High

Thousands of young and beautiful Chinese women recently duked it out in a head-on, televised audition in an attempt to capture the job of their dreams. Contestants stripped down to sport their cutest bikinis, dawning their youthful and fit bodies. They lugged heavy suitcases, balanced drinks atop trays and served up cocktails to critical judges, with the hopes of becoming China Southern Airlines’ next “symbol of excellence.” These 5’3’’ to 5’7’’ women hopefuls, none of whom was over the age of 24, were each given the equal opportunity to become the new face of the airline—they were given the chance to become China Southern’s next flight attendant.

While in America it is no longer legal to give preferential treatment to certain applicants, say unmarried females over men or other married women, China remains steadfast in exploiting everything and anything that sells therefore airlines have narrowed their flight attendant searches to the youthful jaw droppers. Though China Southern denies the fact that they exclude men from the flight attendant applicant pool, the airline company exhibited a fair degree of discrimination by only featuring young female applicants who met certain criteria on it s annual recruitment drive on TV.

Despite such discrimination, one must question who really ended up on the shallow end of the deal: the men or the women? Sure, the men may have had to forfeit their chance to have their 15 minutes of fame, however, these featured women competing for the job of a stewardess in such a demeaning manner have been unrightfully exploited. These women were compelled to compete in outrageous competitions that seemed to only reinforce the subservient nature that many Asian countries to this day believe that women ought to follow. The show, which was funded by the airline, pitted thousands of women against each other in “swimsuit competition and a race involving luggage, makeup brushes and drink trays.” In one instance, women were paired up in which one team member would be “skipping rope and the other lugging a heavy suitcase…then grabbed trays of drinks to present to the judges.”

Making matters worse, the airline industry has been successful in brainwashing these female young adults with the belief that becoming a flight attendant via such competition is a prideful event. “This is every little girl’s dream,” said Lu Ju. “I want to be beautiful like the flight attendants.”

The airline industry’s exploitation of these female participants is apparently widely accepted by many Chinese citizens. In fact, the TV show’s website received over one million visits. Through my personal experience, it is quite common for many Asian countries to exploit the young and the beautiful in similar manners. Asian countries understand that sex sells, and they are quick to take advantage. For example, many big name shopping centers and stores that are peppered throughout major upscale shopping areas in the Philippines only hire young, good-looking individuals. A quick walk through of any major department store will provide anyone with the explicit truth. It is certainly not a coincidence that every cashier and sales person is within a certain height and weight range and considerably decent to good looking.

China Southern, for example, will not even bother giving the time of day to anyone over the age of 24 looking to become a flight attendant. Moreover, each applicant must be within a certain height range, a couple of inches taller than the average person, yet not obscurely tall. If you are fat and overweight, perhaps you should even reconsider taking the time out to fill out the application.

Though this hiring practice among many Asian airlines has become somewhat of a standard, some still oppose the system. Li Ning, an etiquette instructor in Beijing for flight attendant hopefuls, finds more diversity in the flight crew as more pleasing. Many would argue that with age comes wisdom, and strictly having such a young flight attendant crew could be detrimental to the safety of passengers.

Here’s some food for thought: many flight attendant hopefuls in this competition have never flown on commercial airliners on a regular basis. Though some may argue that this will help nervous flyers to feel more at ease since they can relate to each other on a more newbie level, this is certainly not the case. If any plane were experiencing some mid flight problems, I am sure that most would prefer a tested, proven, and experienced individual who is aware of the counter measures to ensure passenger safety, despite having a few wrinkles above the brow coupled with bags under the eyes. Or even tree trunk looking ankles. Appearance should not matter. Experience, knowledge, and the ability to handle situations under pressure should.

Quickly throwing off bikinis to change into a different outfit while touching up hair in front of tiny hand-held mirrors while being timed just does not seem to qualify as a significant amount of pressure.

While caked up women serving your favorite alcoholic beverage may be quite pleasant and relaxing on the eye, it sure would not do any justice in the event of a disaster. Merely looking extra attractive in a two-piece bathing suit or coming in first in a skipping rope race while hauling a luggage certainly does not qualify one to earn the job of a flight attendant.

Perhaps China Southern and other Asian airliners should forfeit this sort of beauty pageant-like selective process, and adopt one similar to that of the United States’, one in which merit and experience takes precedence over looks.