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Air France Demands Stewardesses Wear Headscarves On Flights To Iran

REUTERS/Joseph Okanga

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Jacob Bojesson Foreign Correspondent
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Air France stewardesses are protesting the airline’s demand that female crew wear headscarves on flights to Iran.

Flights between Paris and Tehran are scheduled to resume April 17 after an eight-year break. Female flight crew members will be forced to cover their hair, in accordance with Iranian law, which they refuse.

“Female staff do not wish to have dress regulations imposed on them, especially the obligation to wear an Air France scarf that completely covers their hair as soon as they leave the plane,” said Christophe Pillet, deputy head of the SNPNC flight crews’ union, according to the Telegraph.

The stewardesses further have to wear long jackets and pants instead of their traditional skirts. Headscarves are banned at schools and public offices in France. The airline insists it has to comply with Iranian law, and that the mandatory restriction is “justified by the nature of the task to be accomplished.”

“Tolerance and respect for the customs of the countries we serve are part of the values of our company,” an Air France spokesman said in a statement.

Flore Arrighi, head of air steward’s union UNAC, said the stewardesses demand that the flights are made voluntary.

“It is not our role to pass judgement on the wearing of headscarves or veils in Iran,” Arrighi said, according to The Telegraph. “What we are denouncing is that it is being made compulsory. Stewardesses must be given the right to refuse these flights.”

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