• Clara Fu was thrilled to learn she was expecting, but her excitement soon gave way to concern.
• The airline required pregnant cabin crew to resign at the end of their first trimester, the former flight attendant for Singapore Airlines (SIA) knew she would have to leave her position.
• She finally took over the position again. But she quickly discovered that she was carrying another child.

Since flying was my first career, I had no way to compare it to other fields. Since it applied to everyone, I didn’t give whether I was getting shortchanged any thought.

Clara Fu was thrilled to learn she was expecting, but her excitement soon gave way to concern.

As the company obliged pregnant cabin employees to resign at the conclusion of their first pregnancy, the former flight attendant for Singapore Airlines (SIA) knew she would have to leave her position.

She finally took over the position again. But she quickly discovered that she was carrying another child.

Ms. Fu told that she was the family’s main provider and that she couldn’t afford to quit her job.

For five months, she flew while concealing her pregnancy. She didn’t resign until a fellow traveller spotted her growing uterus.

“It was challenging. I was able to function normally for as long as I could, said Ms. Fu.
Singapore does not have anti-discrimination laws, therefore SIA’s 50-year-old policy, which it abandoned in July, was legal there, according to Clarence Ding of the law firm Simmons & Simmons, who spoke to the BBC.

This is not to imply that the SIA’s policy wasn’t flawed. Employers are required to use fair employment practises, according to [Singapore’s employment guidelines], he claims.

“The regulations don’t have legal authority. Penalties for non-compliance are not specified. Companies only follow the rules because the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has consistently insisted that all employers do so, Mr. Ding continues.

“The MOM holds the real power because it may penalise firms by rigorously examining their hiring methods and restricting their use of work passes,”

SIA did not provide an explanation for the adjustment, but it comes as airlines all across the world have been experiencing staff shortages as a result of the pandemic’s widespread layoffs.

The new regulations allow flight crew who are expecting to ask to be transferred to another position for up to nine months before returning to flying after the baby is born.

“Available opportunities appropriate for their experience have been offered to qualified cabin crew who have applied for ground positions thus far. In our division for cabin crew, these positions include administrative assistance, according to SIA.

long-standing law

Since SIA was created fifty years ago, the importance of women’s positions in the cabin crew has been crucial to its popularity.

The flight attendants of the airline, known as the “Singapore Girl,” dress in a style of the sarong kebaya, a traditional garment worn by Peranakan women in several regions of South East Asia. French fashion designer Pierre Balmain created the uniform.

New hires participate in a 14-week training programme to learn proper presentation, meal preparation, and emergency response.

According to Elizabeth Low, a SIA employee in the 1980s, many women felt privileged to hold the position.

Pregnancy wasn’t an option. Nobody made a scene since everyone was aware. You gave up either your family or your work, she continues.

The Singapore Academy of Corporate Management stated in a report that “the airline’s reputation, and the accompanying prestige of the post, has allowed it to be exceedingly selective during its recruitment process.”

The report also stated that “around 10% of applicants from each recruitment drive are chosen and sent for training on their first steps to becoming a Singapore Girl.”

Due to her pregnancy, Ashley Hong departed SIA in 2011 after less than two years.

She wishes she had been given the choice to stay with the company even though she thinks pregnant crew should not be allowed to fly for their safety.

I think that when we all applied for this position, we all knew deep down that it had restrictions and would end if we got pregnant, Ms. Hong adds.

“Knowing it was going to happen eventually left no room for feelings of any kind of unhappiness.”

Descriptive and sexist

The Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) in Singapore has opposed the practise for more than ten years. The group claimed to have heard complaints from flight attendants who were compelled to resign.

“It was completely unacceptable for SIA to demand that pregnant employees leave their jobs. According to Aware’s executive director Corinna Lim, it was sexist and racist.

“Even if it’s legal in some way, the practise obviously goes against the spirit of Singapore’s maternity protection laws, which allow moms to pursue employment and make a living,” she continues.

Because of “the physical demands of the job, all our cabin staff must be fit to execute their tasks,” according to SIA’s statement from 2010, the airline compelled pregnant flight crew to quit.

In a statement responded, the airline stated, “As a responsible employer, we would not dream of jeopardising the physical well-being of pregnant personnel and their unborn children.”

The employment of female crew members ends after the first trimester of pregnancy for the reasons mentioned above, it continued. “Our cabin crew are on five-year contracts, rather than on permanent terms.

Since “these are HR (human resources) rules by individual companies,” the International Air Transport Association (Iata), the industry’s trade association.

Other significant airlines have not demanded that pregnant cabin staff resign.

British Airways, Qatar Airways, and Qantas all give jobs on the ground to pregnant crew members.

The national carrier of Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific, offers its crew members the option of either accepting paid ground work or taking unpaid leave up until the start of their statutory maternity leave.

“When the cabin crew has finished their leave and passed the necessary safety training courses, they may resume their flying duties. These regulations have been in effect for more than ten years, the airline claims.

Ms. Lim is nevertheless worried that the SIA’s standards for flight attendants’ physical characteristics, which include a set Body Mass Index (BMI) range, “may further restrict the prospects for anyone – returning mother or no – who does not fit within the company’s specifications.”

In response, SIA stated that it upholds “the same grooming standards for all our cabin crew.”

A changing world

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stated that the city-state intended to codify its anti-discrimination policies into legislation in 2021.

Writing [the] guidelines into the legislation is a significant philosophical step. It conveys the message that we do not support workplace discrimination, according to Mr. Lee.

A tribunal will be established to address prejudice based on gender, nationality, age, colour, religion, and disability, the speaker continued.

“Recent years have seen a significant transformation in the workplace. It has compelled organisations to fundamentally reassess the kinds of policies that are acceptable, according to Mr. Ding.

He continues, “This is very much a by-product of the competition for talent, with corporations vying to hire the best and brightest.”

Ms. Fu, who is employed by the pharmaceutical sector, embraced the shift.

She claims that due of her pregnancy, she lost out on a S$15,000 ($10,964; £9,137) incentive that SIA offered for every five years of service.

“I’m fortunate that my folks and my wife’s parents were encouraging. If I hadn’t had it, it would have been worse, claims Ms. Fu.

“SIA ought to support women who are starting families as a national carrier. I might have stayed if the support had been greater.

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