THE All Women’s Action Society is disturbed to read the letter from Effendi Abdul Rahman, the senior general manager of human resources, Malaysia Airlines (”Stewardesses’ jobs: Better benefits in place now” — NST, Jan 16).

Malaysia Airlines claims that its employment conditions for stewardesses are not discriminatory according to the decision of the court in the Beatrice Fernandez case.

By using a conservative interpretation of constitutional law, the impact of Fernandez’s case is that private citizens can discriminate without breaking the law. But isn’t the law meant to serve justice?

It is not just that MAS imposes different retirement ages for stewardesses and stewards.

Stewardesses are retired at 45 years of age and stewards can serve until 55.

Furthermore, stewardesses are limited to ground employment upon reaching 45.

This means they lose out on monetary benefits. Whether a person can continue to serve in-flight must surely be issues of health and fitness, applicable to stewards and stewardesses alike.

The perception it creates is that stewardesses above 45 are no longer attractive.

The prime minister had said that we can judge a country by how its women are treated; and so we can judge a government-linked company by how it treats its stewardesses.

Justice and non-discrimination should be the yardstick, not compliance with the letter of the law.

HONEY TAN LAY EAN for All Women’s Action Society, Petaling Jaya

Source: NST – February 1, 2008