More Taiwanese airlines have pledged to relax uniform requirements for female flight attendants, allowing options such as trousers, following a government watchdog report saying that previous policies constituted gender discrimination.
China Airlines, for instance, introduced an alternative trousers-based uniform option on Saturday for female cabin crew, featuring a patchwork design in its signature colors — blue, red and black.
In a statement, the carrier emphasized its commitment to gender equality, saying that female flight attendants in the future would be able to choose between trousers and skirts to better accommodate their individual preferences.
Photo: CNA
Similarly, Starlux Airlines announced that it adjusted its cabin crew dress code on Sept. 24, allowing female employees to select either skirts or trousers when renewing their uniforms.
The airlines’ decision came after a report from the Control Yuan’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in July, which found that the dress codes of Taiwanese airlines violated the gender discrimination provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
The report, conducted in response to a complaint filed by the Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union last year, found that most Taiwanese airlines have different dress codes for male and female cabin crew.
In particular, female cabin crew are subject to highly specific requirements regarding hair and makeup, according to the report.
As a result, the NHRC urged the airlines to take a proactive stance in complying with CEDAW principles and introduce a trousers-based alternative uniform for female cabin crew.
Budget airline Tigerair Taiwan, China Airlines and Starlux are the only Taiwan-based airlines to offer a trousers-based uniform option for female cabin crew.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
NO RIGHT: After 38 years of martial law under the former KMT government, the KMT is the least qualified to accuse others of harboring such intentions, DPP officials said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of creating a stir on social media by implying that the government supports martial law, adding that the KMT is the least qualified to criticize others after decades of martial law in Taiwan under the former KMT regime. After South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol late on Tuesday night declared martial law (which was rescinded six hours later), the DPP caucus issued a statement on Thread saying that Taiwan’s legislature was facing a situation similar to that in South Korea, which had prompted Yoon to declare martial law. “The South
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
‘FACT-BASED’: There is no ban, and 2 million Taiwanese have traveled to China this year, which is more than the 285,000 Chinese who visited Taiwan, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday accused China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of shifting the blame for Beijing’s tourism ban on Taiwan, continuing a war of words that started in the past week. The council’s remark came hours after its Chinese counterpart on Friday accused the government of creating barriers to the resumption of reciprocal group tours across the Taiwan Strait. The TAO accused the MAC of releasing untruthful information and dragging its feet on the tourism sector’s call to establishing ferries linking Pingtung County to China’s Pingtan Island. The MAC failed to respond to overtures to restore direct flights and raised the