A woman's work

Kiwi women cabin crew are still paid, on average, 13 per cent less than men for doing the same job. Photo / Thinkstock

The airline industry hasn't got a great record on women's rights.

As recently as 1967, female cabin crew in the US were fighting mandatory retirement rules that saw them ejected from the industry in their early 30s.

There were also compulsory weigh-ins and they had to meet prescribed body measurements.

In 1967, Aviation Week and Space Technology quoted an unnamed airline executive: "Women are subject to changes in metabolism and in the endocrine, circulatory, digestive and cutaneous systems, symptoms of which would interfere with the desirable performance of the job."

Imagine being forced out of your job because some pervert in the boardroom fancied leering at a younger model.

Thank goodness those days are behind us, huh? Not quite. Kiwi women are still paid, on average, 13 per cent less than men for doing the same job.

In Israel, the national carrier El Al has just decreed that female flight attendants must wear high heels when working on a plane.

Previously, they had to wear high heels at the airport, but - magnanimously - the airline allowed them to change into flats on the plane before passengers boarded.

Now El Al wants them to stay in high heels throughout the flight.

We have a long way to go.