Editing Flight attendant (section)

== History ==
[[File:Vraagteken vlucht Lockheed Electra naar Istanbul, Bestanddeelnr 910-7819.jpg|thumb|upright|Dutch flight attendants, Istanbul, 1959]]

The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar positions on [[passenger ship]]s or [[Passenger railroad car|passenger train]]s, but has more direct involvement with passengers because of the confined quarters on [[aircraft]]. Additionally, the job of a flight attendant revolves around safety to a much greater extent than those of similar staff on other forms of transportation. Flight attendants on board a flight collectively form a ''cabin crew'', as distinguished from [[Aircraft pilot|pilots]] and [[Flight engineer|engineers]] in the [[cockpit]].

The German [[Heinrich Kubis]] was the world's first flight attendant, in 1912 aboard a [[Zeppelin]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Grossman, Dan |url=http://www.airships.net/blog/worlds-first-flight-attendant |title=The First Flight Attendant: Heinrich Kubis, 1912 |work=Airships: The Hindenburg and other Zeppelins |date=9 July 2010 |access-date=22 August 2012 |archive-date=11 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711122929/http://www.airships.net/blog/worlds-first-flight-attendant/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Kubis first attended to the passengers on board the [[DELAG]] Zeppelin [[LZ 10 Schwaben|LZ 10 ''Schwaben'']]. He also attended to the famous [[LZ 129 Hindenburg|LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'']] and was on board when it burst into flames. He survived by jumping out a window when it neared the ground.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Guinness World Records 2014|last=Glenday|first=Craig|year=2013|isbn=978-1-908843-15-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/161 161]|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited |url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/161}}</ref>

Origins of the word "steward" in transportation are reflected in the term "[[chief steward]]" as used in [[maritime transport]] terminology. The term [[purser]] and chief steward are often used interchangeably describing personnel with similar duties among seafaring occupations. This lingual derivation results from the international [[Maritime history of the United Kingdom|British maritime tradition]] (i.e. [[chief mate]]) dating back to the 14th century and the civilian [[United States Merchant Marine]] on which U.S. aviation is somewhat modelled. Due to [[international law]], conventions and agreements, in which all ships' personnel who sail internationally are similarly documented, see [[Merchant Mariner's Document]], by their respective countries, the U.S. Merchant Marine assigns such duties to the chief steward in the overall rank and [[command hierarchy|command structure]] of which pursers are not positionally represented or rostered.

[[File:Nelly Diener cropped.jpg|thumb|left|[[Nelly Diener]], the first female flight attendant in Europe, hired in May 1934. She was killed on the plane pictured behind her, in the July [[1934 Swissair Tuttlingen accident]].]]

[[Imperial Airways]] of the United Kingdom had "cabin boys" or "stewards"; in the 1920s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/07/23/before-the-stewardess-the-steward-when-flight-attendants-were-men/|title=Before the Stewardess, the Steward: When Flight Attendants Were Men – Sociological Images|last=Pages|first=The Society|website=thesocietypages.org|access-date=1 September 2016|archive-date=9 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409102829/https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/07/23/before-the-stewardess-the-steward-when-flight-attendants-were-men/|url-status=live}}</ref> In the US, Stout Airways was the first to employ stewards in 1926, working on [[Ford Trimotor]] planes between [[Detroit]] and [[Grand Rapids, Michigan|Grand Rapids]], Michigan. [[Western Airlines]] (1928) and [[Pan Am|Pan American World Airways]] (Pan Am) (1929) were the first US carriers to employ stewards to serve food. Ten-passenger [[Fokker]] aircraft used in the [[Caribbean]] had stewards in the era of gambling trips to [[Havana]], Cuba from [[Key West]], Florida. Lead flight attendants would in many instances also perform the role of purser, steward, or chief steward in modern aviation terminology.

The first female flight attendant was a 25-year-old [[registered nurse]] named [[Ellen Church]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.travel.aol.com/2009/11/20/history-of-flight-attendant-uniforms/ |title=History of Flight Attendant Uniforms – AOL Travel News |publisher=AOL |date=17 October 2011 |access-date=22 August 2012 |archive-date=7 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707152027/http://news.travel.aol.com/2009/11/20/history-of-flight-attendant-uniforms/}}</ref> Hired by [[United Airlines]] in 1930,<ref name="NYtimes">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/04/12/archives/air-hostess-finds-life-adventurous-they-are-crazy-about-their-jobs.html |title=Air hostess finds life adventurous |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=12 April 1936 |page=N1 |access-date=22 July 2018 |archive-date=22 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240722150232/https://www.nytimes.com/1936/04/12/archives/air-hostess-finds-life-adventurous-they-are-crazy-about-their-jobs.html |url-status=live}}</ref> she also first envisioned [[Nursing|nurses]] on aircraft. Other airlines followed suit, hiring nurses to serve as flight attendants, then called "stewardesses" or "air hostesses", on most of their flights. In the United States, the job was one of only a few in the 1930s to permit women, which, coupled with the [[Great Depression]], led to large numbers of applicants for the few positions available. Two thousand women applied for just 43 positions offered by [[Trans World Airlines|Transcontinental and Western Airlines]] in December 1935.<ref name="hostess">"The air hostess carries on", ''The New York Times''. 19 April 1936. Page XX12.</ref>

[[File:1949.01. Washing up on Catalina (Suva-Sydney) copy.jpg|thumb|upright|Washing dishes during a [[Qantas|Qantas Airlines]] flight, 1949]]

Female flight attendants rapidly replaced male ones, and by 1936, they had all but taken over the role.<ref name="NYtimes"/> They were selected not only for their knowledge but also for their physical characteristics.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://lithub.com/liberation-at-30000-feet-on-the-freedom-of-early-airline-stewardesses/ | title=Liberation at 30,000 Feet: On the Freedom of Early Airline Stewardesses | date=12 March 2021 | access-date=15 March 2021 | archive-date=15 March 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315054016/https://lithub.com/liberation-at-30000-feet-on-the-freedom-of-early-airline-stewardesses/ | url-status=live}}</ref> A 1936 article in ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the requirements:

{{blockquote|The girls who qualify for hostesses must be petite; weight 100 to 118 pounds;{{efn|{{cvt|100|to|118|lb|disp=out}}}} height 5 feet to 5 feet 4 inches;{{efn|{{cvt|5|ft|disp=out}} to {{cvt|5|ft|4|in|disp=out}}}} age 20 to 26 years. Add to that the rigid physical examination each must undergo four times every year, and you are assured of the bloom that goes with perfect health.<ref name="NYtimes"/>}}

Three decades later, a 1966 ''New York Times'' [[Classified advertising|classified ad]] for stewardesses at Eastern Airlines listed these requirements:

{{blockquote|A high school graduate, single (widows and divorcees with no children considered), 20 years of age (girls 19{{1/2}} may apply for future consideration). 5'2" but no more than 5'9{{efn|{{cvt|5|ft|2|in|disp=out}} to {{cvt|5|ft|9|in|disp=out}}}} weight 105 to 135{{efn|{{cvt|105|to|135|lb|disp=out}}}} in proportion to height and have at least 20/40 vision without glasses.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/us/63-years-flying-from-glamour-to-days-of-gray.html "63 Years Flying, From Glamour to Days of Gray"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230222083413/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/us/63-years-flying-from-glamour-to-days-of-gray.html |date=22 February 2023}}. ''The New York Times''. 17 March 2012.</ref>}}

Appearance was considered one of the most important factors to become a stewardess. At that time, airlines believed that the exploitation of female sexuality would increase their profits; thus the uniforms of female flight attendants were often formfitting, complete with white gloves and high heels.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Boris|first=Eileen|year=2006|title=Desirable Dress: Rosies, Sky Girls, and the Politics of Appearance|journal=International Labor and Working Class History|volume=69 |issue=1|pages=123–142|doi=10.1017/S014754790600007X|s2cid=145145762}}</ref>
[[File:Photography by Victor Albert Grigas (1919-2017) 1 Heathrow Airport - Victoria Station London00622 (48361402931).jpg|thumb|left|Flight attendant circa 1970]]
In the United States, they were required to be unmarried and were fired if they decided to marry.<ref name="hostess" /> The requirement to be a [[registered nurse]] on an American airline was relaxed as more women were hired,<ref name="hostess" /> and disappeared almost entirely during [[Women in World War II|World War II]] as many nurses joined [[military nurse]] corps.

[[Ruth Carol Taylor]] was the [[Timeline of African-American firsts|first African-American]] flight attendant in the United States.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.alaskasworld.com/NEWS/2005/11/16_black_fa.asp |access-date=7 November 2011| work=Alaska's World|title=Promoting Diversity|date=16 November 2005|first=Don|last=Conrard|publisher=[[Alaska Airlines]]|archive-date=24 March 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060324094852/http://www.alaskasworld.com/NEWS/2005/11/16_black_fa.asp}}</ref> Hired in December 1957,<ref name=femininityinflight>{{cite web|url=http://www.femininityinflight.com/laborhistory.html#racial|title=Femininity in Flight – Flight attendants & labor history|first=K|last=Barry|access-date=9 December 2016|archive-date=18 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118064543/http://femininityinflight.com/laborhistory.html#racial}}</ref> on 11 February 1958, Taylor was the flight attendant on a [[Mohawk Airlines]] flight from [[Ithaca, New York|Ithaca]] to New York, the first time such a position had been held by an African American.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boonvilleherald.com/joe_kelly/2007%20articles/joekelly_080807.htm|title=Welcome to the Boonville Herald|access-date=9 December 2016|archive-date=8 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708083337/http://www.boonvilleherald.com/joe_kelly/2007%20articles/joekelly_080807.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> She was let go within six months as a result of Mohawk's then-common marriage ban.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blkav8tor2003.blogspot.com/2010/02/first-african-american-flight-attendant.html|title=Airline Travel...What You Really Need To Know!!!: The First African-American Flight Attendant in the United States.|author= |date=12 February 2010|access-date=9 December 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071338/http://blkav8tor2003.blogspot.com/2010/02/first-african-american-flight-attendant.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Patricia Banks Edmiston]] became the first black flight attendant for [[Capitol Air]]lines in 1960 following a legal complaint which resulted in the airline being required to hire her.<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 February 2023 |title=Patricia Noisette Banks Edmiston reflects on being one of the first Black commercial airline flight attendants - CBS New York |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/patricia-noisette-banks-edmiston-reflects-on-being-one-of-the-first-black-commercial-airline-flight-attendants/ |access-date=30 June 2023 |website=[[CBS News]] |archive-date=30 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630051405/https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/patricia-noisette-banks-edmiston-reflects-on-being-one-of-the-first-black-commercial-airline-flight-attendants/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The U.S. [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]]'s (EEOC) first complainants were female flight attendants complaining of age discrimination, weight requirements, and bans on marriage.<ref name="Collins2009">{{cite book|last=Collins|first=Gail|title=When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQ1HhzuaYkEC&pg=PT59|date=14 October 2009|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=978-0-316-07166-6|pages=59–}}</ref> (Originally female flight attendants were fired if they reached age 32 or 35 depending on the airline, were fired if they exceeded weight regulations, and were required to be single upon hiring and fired if they got married.<ref name="femininityinflight.com">{{cite web |last=Barry |first=K |url=http://www.femininityinflight.com/activism.html |title=Timeline of Discrimination |publisher=Femininity in Flight |access-date=22 August 2012 |archive-date=16 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816204605/http://www.femininityinflight.com/activism.html}}</ref>) In 1968, the EEOC declared age restrictions on flight attendants' employment to be illegal sex discrimination under [[Civil Rights Act of 1964#Title VII – equal employment opportunity|Title VII]] of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]].<ref name="K Barry">{{cite web |last=Barry |first=K |url=http://femininityinflight.com/activism.html |title=Timeline of Discrimination |publisher=Femininity in Flight |access-date=6 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826083225/http://femininityinflight.com/activism.html |archive-date=26 August 2016}}</ref> Also in 1968, the EEOC ruled that sex was not a bona fide occupational requirement to be a flight attendant.<ref name="brynmawr1968">{{cite web |url=http://350fem.blogs.brynmawr.edu/1968/02/03/eeoc-finally-rules-that-gender-is-not-a-bona-fide-occupational-qualification/ |title=EEOC finally rules that gender is not a bona fide occupational qualification « National Organization for Women |publisher=350fem.blogs.brynmawr.edu |date=3 February 1968 |access-date=22 July 2015 |archive-date=22 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722080522/http://350fem.blogs.brynmawr.edu/1968/02/03/eeoc-finally-rules-that-gender-is-not-a-bona-fide-occupational-qualification/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The restriction of hiring only women was lifted at all airlines in 1971 due to the decisive court case of ''Diaz v. Pan Am''.<ref name="genders1">{{cite web|last1=Tiemeyer|first1=Phil|title=Male Stewardesses: Male Flight Attendants as a Queer Miscarriage of Justice|url=http://www.genders.org/g45/g45_tiemeyer.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070520004539/http://www.genders.org/g45/g45_tiemeyer.html |archive-date=20 May 2007|website=Genders|access-date=8 June 2014}}</ref> The [[Airline Deregulation Act]] was passed in 1978, and the no-marriage rule was eliminated throughout the US airline industry by the 1980s.<ref name="nytimes1986">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/11/business/united-settles-sex-bias-case.html |title=United Settles Sex-Bias Case |newspaper=The New York Times |date=11 July 1986 |access-date=22 April 2022 |archive-date=22 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422055150/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/11/business/united-settles-sex-bias-case.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The last such broad categorical discrimination, the weight restrictions,<ref name="quindlen1993">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/16/opinion/public-private-in-thin-air.html?sec=health |title=Public & Private; In Thin Air |first=Anna |last=Quindlen |newspaper=The New York Times |date=16 May 1993 |access-date=22 April 2022 |archive-date=22 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422055413/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/16/opinion/public-private-in-thin-air.html?sec=health |url-status=live}}</ref> were relaxed in the 1990s through litigation and negotiations.<ref name="nytimes1991">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/30/us/accord-on-flight-attendants-weight.html |title=Accord on Flight Attendants' Weight |newspaper=The New York Times |date=30 August 1991 |access-date=22 April 2022 |archive-date=22 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422055151/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/30/us/accord-on-flight-attendants-weight.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Airlines still often have vision and height requirements and may require flight attendants to pass a medical evaluation.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web |url=https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/flight-attendants.htm#tab-4 |publisher=U.S. Department of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics |title=Occupational Outlook Handbook – Flight Attendants |access-date=14 May 2018 |archive-date=12 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230912211538/https://www.bls.gov/ooh/transportation-and-material-moving/flight-attendants.htm#tab-4 |url-status=live}}</ref>