Many of the rights that American working women have now can be traced directly back to stewardesses. In 1972, national airlines ran ads featuring pictures of real working stewardesses called Fly Me. Now flight attendants are unionized and they always have been at almost every airline,. But they're affiliated with much bigger unions like the Transport Workers Union or the Pilots Union. The union leadership tends to treat them in the same way as the company executives do.
In this Live Interview with Nell McShane Wulfhart, we discuss the hidden labor and humiliation of the Airline Industry's "Swingin' 60's" image and how the "pretty faces" behind the tawdry ads fought back.