Welcome to 2019, where airlines are just beginning to see women flight attendants as people and not sexualized playthings that happen to come with the plane!
Virgin Atlantic is now not requiring women crew members to wear makeup on flights, the Guardian reports. If a member does want to wear makeup they are encouraged to use the company’s official palette of colors. Women crew members will also be given pants as part of their official uniform, whereas before they had to request it.
This is a small but symbolic step for women flight attendants, who for decades have faced mandatory pressures on the job to present a rigid definition of femininity (and not to mention sexual availability) to passengers. It was only a few years ago that women flight attendants won the right to wear pants on British Airways flights, though the company still requires women to wear makeup, the Guardian reports.