Singapore Air announces new policy for pregnant stewardesses

Singapore Air announced a new policy for pregnant stewardesses. Stewardesses who become pregnant will now be able to keep their jobs at Singapore Air, the airline said in a statement. The statement said that pregnant cabin crew members can now choose to work in “a temporary ground attachment.”

The statement said crew members can resume flying duties after maternity leave.

Singapore Air previously enforced a policy that gender equality groups had been calling out as long ago as 2010, Bloomberg reported. Under the former policy, stewardesses who revealed that they were pregnant were put on leave without pay. The airline would then force them to quit after they submitted their children’s birth certificates.

In the statement, Singapore Air said that under the former policy, stewardesses “left the service when they were pregnant.” When asked if crew members were obliged to leave, the airline did not respond.

Details of the new policy aren’t crystal clear. The executive director of the Association of Women for Action and Research was quoted asking if three are still rules that could bar post-partum mothers from flying for the airline. The director, Corinna Lim, asked if there were requirements on physique since it can take a long time to lose baby weight.

Singapore Air responded that it has “the same grooming standards for all cabin crew,” according to the Straights Times. Citing a circular from Singapore Air, Straights Times reported that pregnant crew members would still be placed on leave without pay. They would be allowed to apply for jobs on the ground, and the airline would offer as many of these jobs as possible, Straights Times said. But the airline did not respond when Bloomberg asked if crew members were guaranteed ground jobs with the new policy.

• Win a 3-night beachfront stay at Four Points by Sheraton Phuket by taking a short Thaiger Survey HERE!