TUI hits rough weather over ‘sexist’ boy and girl stickers
AN AIRLINE is at the centre of a sexism row after boys were given “future captain” stickers while girls were told they were “future cabin crew”.
TUI Airways was accused of encouraging gender stereotypes after children were handed the labels on a flight to Cyprus. Crew on the Bristol to Paphos plane gave youngsters “activity packs” that included the stickers.
Dame Gillian Morgan, who chairs NHS Providers and was on the Aug 15 flight, said as she went through passport control she noticed “all the little boys had been given stickers that said Future TUI Captain, while all the girls had ones that said Future TUI Cabin Crew”.
She said: “It happens implicitly all the time. The boys can have the Lego, the space rocket going to the moon, and the girls can have a little pony.
“We desperately need more women to do science, maths and engineering but little things like this take us backwards.”
Other passengers have expressed their dismay at the way TUI distributed the stickers to children over the summer. Twitter user St Pirran wrote: “No female pilots then?” Another passenger, Linzi Walker, posted: “I tell my daughter she can have any job she wants as long as she works hard enough. I feel this undermines that.”
TUI, formerly Thomson Holidays, said it had not intended for the stickers to be given to children based on gender, describing it as a “simple mix-up”.
They said: “We’re sorry to hear a small number of customers have been upset. We think it was a simple mix-up since our future pilot and cabin crew stickers are designed for use for any child regardless of gender. The feedback we’ve had so far this summer has been overwhelmingly positive. We want to encourage their dreams of becoming pilots and crew members.”