Introduction| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Conclusion

Post War Years

After the war, as military aircraft were converted for civilian use the role of a stewardess changed into one of complete customer service. Four-engine planes were introduced, and cooked hot meals on board became a possibility. Stewardess’s responsibilities such as cleaning the cabin, fueling the plane, and carrying the pilots’ luggage on board were eliminated, in order to ensure that they could provide attentive passenger service. Many industry experts consider this the most fruitful time for flight attendants, because they were able to work with their passengers on a personal level and at the same time were not bombarded with duties to be performed while in the air.10 In the absence of fast flights, audio, video and other electronic distractions that passengers are familiar with today, the main job of a stewardess was to create a unique and personable experience of flight, especially for the first-time flyers, so that they would return in the future.

The position had become established, and it was during this time that Ada Brown and Edith Lauterbauch responded to some of the discriminatory practices and policies by forming the first stewardess union and in 1946 the first union contract raised United’s flight attendants’ monthly pay from 125$ to 155$. The union was wrapped under ALPA the airline pilots association. The term association was often substituted in recruitment, because of the social stigmas attached to labor organization. As many women reflected, belonging to union was not something you wanted to brag about, family and friends frowned upon it. As the union grew into its shape women were given the rare opportunity to participate in significant and powerful leadership roles that determined the outcome of their status as a workforce and developing profession. This was an extraordinary occasion of self-representation that was not widely afforded to most women in the general workforce. The stewardess union no doubt existed as a model to other women performing service work.

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Introduction| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Conclusion

10. Cynthia Merke, Flight Log, Winter 1980.