BA made me feel like a prostitute by forcing me to wear high heels and make-up to look sexy, former air hostess tells MPs at inquiry into dress codes
- Ruth Campion said she felt ‘dehumanised’ and ‘humiliated' by her bosses
- Nicola Thorp also gave evidence about work at PricewaterhouseCoopers
- Sales assistant Emma Birkett said she was encouraged to wear short skirt
A flight attendant said she was made to feel like a ‘prostitute’ by British Airways as they forced her to wear high heels and make-up to look ‘sexy’.
Ruth Campion, who worked as cabin crew for nearly two years, revealed that women were made to use lipstick and told to make their hair less frizzy.
Speaking to MPs for an inquiry on dress codes, she said female staff were told they could not wear cardigans as they looked ‘frumpy’.
Ruth Campion, pictured, claimed British Airways deliberately made its dress code for women 'sexier' from 2010 onwards
Also giving evidence was a sales assistant who said she had been forced to unbutton her blouse and wear a shorter skirt.
Miss Campion said she felt ‘dehumanised’ and ‘humiliated … to be made to specifically wear items of uniform that sexualised my appearance or enhanced my sexuality’.
She told a joint petitions and women and equalities committee: ‘It made me feel extremely uncomfortable…For an employer to tell me that I need to do that in order for the business to have a certain image, it made me feel akin to being prostituted.’
Ruth Campion (pictured, left, and, right, in cycling gear) said one of her managers told her that her hair was too 'fluffy like a cloud' and was told to flatten it
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Miss Campion claimed BA made its dress code for women ‘sexier’ after 2010.
Women who joined after this could not wear cardigans as they were deemed ‘frumpy’ and ‘not very attractive’, she said, ‘so we had to make do with our bare arms.’
She added: ‘A couple of times I got told to re-apply my lipstick…I wasn’t wearing enough make-up.’
Miss Campion claimed one of her managers told her that her hair was too ‘fluffy like a cloud’ – and one manager carried hair spray around to enforce flatter hair.
‘I don’t understand how that affects the service you give on an airline,’ the hostess added.
The inquiry was set up after a receptionist was sent home on the first day of a job when she refused to wear stilettos.
Nicola Thorp, pictured, was told she could not work as a receptionist while wearing flat shoes. She started a petition for a legal ban on forcing women to wear high heels, which attracted 100,000 signatures
Nicola Thorp, 27, arrived at a London office of accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers in black flat shoes.
She said she was told to buy heels – and was ‘laughed at’ when she questioned the ‘sexist’ dress code.
Her petition for a legal ban on forcing women to wear high heels at work attracted more than 100,000 signatures – the threshold at which it must be considered for parliamentary debate.
In retail I was actively encouraged at Christmas time to wear shorter skirts and unbutton a blouse a little
Emma Birkett
Miss Thorp told MPs yesterday: ‘Ten years ago it was skirts, now it is heels, next year it will be make-up, and it is now, what else, hairstyles?’
She said she had worked for Harrods, where one employee had told her staff they needed a makeover.
One black woman was allegedly told she had to have her hair chemically treated to make it flatter.
Miss Thorp added: ‘You have to carry lipstick with you at all times to top it up, it was just humiliating. Girls would be in tears because their feet were bleeding.’
Sales assistant Emma Birkett, also giving evidence, said: ‘In retail I was actively encouraged at Christmas time to wear shorter skirts and unbutton a blouse a little…We were encouraged…to flirt a little to try and encourage the gentleman customer to spend a little more.
‘I felt offended…I could use my skills and product knowledge to do that.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3664898/BA-feel-like-prostitute-forcing-wear-high-heels-make-look-sexy-former-air-hostess-tells-MPs-inquiry-dress-codes.html#ixzz4D3n113MS
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