A recent directive by China Airlines (CAL,
The new regulation, posted on CAL flight crew bulletin boards on March 15, says that female crew members can wear only sheer red lipstick and nail polish -- for "the sake of unified color co-ordination." Those who fail to do so will have their flight duties terminated for that day -- unless they can apply the proper make-up on the spot.
According to CAL officials, the new standard was aimed at improving discipline among flight crews. "The management thought the crew's performance has been stagnant for around two years," said CAL spokesman Scott Hsih (
"We thought of several things that would let the crew see our efforts at promotion," said Hsih, stressing that this new regulation was only "one part of the campaign."
The new, unofficial policy, however, has given rise to strong complaints from employees -- not only over its strictness, but for its harmful effects on those using it.
"Nowadays no one, even the old streetwalkers around [Taipei's red-light district] Snake Alley (
"A Japanese passenger even wrote a letter to complain about the terrible color of the CAL crew's nails," she said. "The passenger said it made him feel uncomfortable because in Japan only women in the sex trade use it."
Chang said CAL began enforcing the colors of lipstick and fingernail polish a year ago, when they specified four colors to choose from. More recently, however, the "choice" has been narrowed to one.
"Round, short nails with sheer red polish make my fingers look like a book of matches," Chang said, adding that her nails are too fragile to be grown longer.
Chang says that she and others have suffered physically because of the repeated use of nail polish remover. She said sheer red was more damaging to her nails than other colors.
"When I use lighter colors I just need one piece of cotton to remove the polish. But with the red the company makes us wear I have to use three cotton balls," she said.
Another flight attendant surnamed Lin, a 10-year CAL veteran, brought up a similar problem.
"Small scratches in sheer red polish are very obvious, forcing us to do retouches more often," she said.
The major concern for most attendants is the health of the fingernails. Chan Heng-leong (
Lin said the nails of many female attendants have become partially split, or have turned yellow, because of using polish remover.
"After a long time, I finally decided to have my nails enameled," Lin said, adding that many stewardesses have done the same thing despite the high cost.
Spreading enamel on 10 nails the first time costs around NT$3,000 and retouching costs NT$200 per finger.
"Nails are always growing, so we have to re-do it almost every month," Lin said, emphasizing the extra expense.
"This new regulation makes me feel like I'm still in junior high school," Lin said. She faulted CAL for "paying more attention to these meaningless details than to safety."
"They [the management] are just concerned about beauty, rather than other, more important considerations," Lin said, adding that even their Chinese-style "chi-pau" uniforms were also a problem.
"One time a CAL plane ended up in the bay at Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong [after overshooting the runway]. Many stewardesses had difficulty getting into the life rafts because of the tight, narrow skirts," Lin recalled.
She said that they have repeatedly asked CAL to allow them to choose between pants or skirts, but the company would not allow it.
"This policy has only infuriated female attendants, it has ignored improving flight security, meal services and so on," Chang said.
"Maybe some day they will ask us to wear the same sheer red underwear with a plum blossom [CAL's logo] on it," Chang laughed. "Since there are so many ridiculous rules at CAL, I wouldn't be surprised at anything they might do."
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