Fly With Me is an inside look at flight attendants and their battle for equality. | Photo courtesy PBS/American Experience
What you probably already know: At one time, flight attendants were required to be single. They had to meet height and weight requirements and could be fired or suspended for being even a pound “overweight.” They were forced to “retire” at age 32. For the longest time, they had to be white, and they sold sexuality as much as travel. All this and more is detailed in a fascinating American Experience documentary called Fly with Me, a 2024 film that tells the story of “the pioneering young women who became flight attendants at a time when single women were unable to order a drink, eat alone in a restaurant, own a credit card or get a prescription for birth control.”
Why it matters: The over-arching story of sexism, racism and discrimination toward women in the 1950s, 60s and 70s may not be a surprise, but the determination and personal stories of the women who risked their careers and reputations fighting for change is nothing short of fascinating. They fought for equal rights, fair pay, workers’ rights and gender parity — all detailed in riveting firsthand accounts. American Experience notes that they were “often maligned as feminist sellouts, these women were on the frontlines of the battle to assert gender equality and transform the workplace.”
What it means: One woman, Patricia Noisette Banks Edmiston, recounts being told in the 1950s that airlines did not hire Black women. Oftentimes, the rejection was subtle. She filed a discrimination case and, after several bumps, won the case, making her among the first Black attendants. The late Barbara “Dusty” Roads — who died at age 95 shortly before the movie was released — became a leader in the push back against sexist practices in the industry and helped organize a flight attendants union. Today, more than 100,000 flight attendants across the country are represented by unions. The documentary, currently streaming on Amazon Prime, features the highly personal experiences of other activists.
What happens next: The film demonstrates that meaningful social change often begins with individuals challenging unfair systems, and the activism coincides with the broader civil and women’s rights movements in the 1960s and 1970s. One former flight attendant prominently featured in the movie, Patricia Ireland, went on to serve as president of the National Organization for Women for almost a decade beginning in the 1990s. “The passing of the law was a major step forward,” Ireland says in reference to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a major victory for the activists because of its anti-discrimination statues. “But if you pass a law that people don’t want to obey, they won’t.” The fight continued: It wasn’t until the mid-1970s when most airlines dropped their marriage and pregnancy bans, age limits and gender biases.
