Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants

So where did it all begin? From the beginning, American airlines hired only young and very attractive white women as airline hostesses. They were the face of women in aviation for much of the first decades since commercial aviation took flight.

Femininity in Flight

 In the book Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants (Radical Perspectives) , the writer Kathleen Barry, explores the topic of femininity in the aviation in the early decades of the 20th Century. The book explores the women’s idealized image in the airline marketing of that epoch.  The book also explores the challenges  faced by these early pioneers in the work environment including the no-marriage laws imposed by the airlines, the limit of the retirement age at 32, and trade unionism. An interesting exploration of the history of this very fascinating career. You can find the book Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants (Radical Perspectives) an Amazon .