Could we be sliding back to the pre-suffragist days? As absurd as that may sound, I can't believe that in this day and age, there are major corporations that actually try to treat women like 2nd class citizens. Apparently, Southwest Airlines has been "enforcing" a dress code just for women.
23-year-old Kayla Ebbert told The Today Show last week that she was stopped by a Southwest employee when boarding a flight from San Diego to Tucson back in July. Only after she adjusted her sweater and mini skirt was she allowed to board. How humiliating and demeaning is that? She had to do a "walk of shame" just to board a flight that she paid for.
Wait, as if that weren't bad enough, a second woman has come forward to report that she, too, was asked to cover up by a Southwest flight attendant when she attempted to board a flight to Burbank from Tucson. Setara Qassim told KNBC-TV in LA that a flight attendant forced her to use a blanket to hide from the other passengers because she was wearing a halter dress.
Have we reverted to a paternalistic, fascist state overnight? What right does any airline have to impose a dress code exclusively on women when the passengers are already paying more than they should be for cramped, uncomfortable flights with recyled air in a tin can with wings that barely passes for an airplane? Who are they protecting anyway? And if women have to cover up their shoulders or their legs, will they require that hairy necked men wear a turtleneck? How about those men who refuse to believe that they've put on an extra 10 or 50 pounds so they wear Dockers that end up giving that oh-so-lovely camel toe look? How about that flabby guy who's a few years past wearing wife beaters? Would they make him cover up with a blanket from his neck to waist?
In a year when the airlines have already failed on so many levels (remember all the delays during any inclement weather or technical glitch at all the major airports?), what gall to insist that a young woman who is dressed in attire that I could wear to my work on any hot, summer day hide her figure? Is Southwest afraid that if a heterosexual male pilot happens to see the woman sitting in the cabin on his way back from the loo, that he would be so distracted that he can't fly the plane?
IMHO, airlines have a long way to go to rectify all the wrongs in an industry that is essentially one of service, not unlike a restaurant or hotel. They can barely guarantee safety, what with pilots who fly drunk. Their baggage handlers have turned out to be thieves. And don't even mention comfort -- how many seats can they squeeze into a row before we're sitting on top of each other anyway?
There is absolutely no language on their website about the existence of any dress codes. I suspect Southwest could not possibly put such a policy as this in writing for fear that it would expose them to a whole heap of legal trouble. And who made the decision to put such a policy in place? How high up does this go?
This is beyond sexism. It is an outright violation of the civil rights of all women travelers. It may just be a halter here and a mini skirt there...for now. But how do we know that soon, this will not lead to "all women must cover all skin other than their faces." Are we becoming exactly the kind of society that our President has vowed to "liberate" and "democratize" where women do not share the same and equal rights as men?
A frightening development indeed. Truly.
Story at http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/13/airline.dress.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch
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