Ban on men sitting next to children
Air NZ have shamed themselves with to days revelation in the NZ Herald that they have a policy of insisting that only a female may sit next to a unaccompanied child in flight.
This is outrageous, not only because it reinforces one gender as “bad” or “not to be trusted” but it goes against the facts themselves as reported by CYFS. Women abuse children at twice the rate of men (CYFS statistics).
Children’s Commissioner Cindy Kiro has stated “children’s safety is paramount and she commends the airline for putting thought into how it can keep children safe.”
Cindy’s ideology would have all Polynesians under a curfew after dark. All Muslims would not be able to travel in public unless they were in swim suits, every teenager could only drive a moped, and every politician would be required to be permanently wired to a polygraph.
A company concerned with the welfare of all its clients would have delivered a policy whereby people sitting next to the child were told that if there is a need for the child to go to the toilet then only the air hostess can take them. When this is to be directed at both genders it is not discriminatory.
But why think about upsetting males when they are such easy targets. Do you think this would have been permitted had the gender concerned been female?
My suggestion is to ring the EPMU on 04 576-1181 Speak to national secretary Andrew Little and insist that action is taken by the union to force a change in this policy and to ensure that no other policies are in place that slur a gender without just cause.
check out kiwiblog.co.nz for some interesting comments on this.
Comment by MarkL — Tue 29th November 2005 @ 3:39 pm
For the first four month of a penguins’ life, the father does not eat, and stands by it’s chick to provide shelter and protection.
Comment by Mark Bogan — Tue 29th November 2005 @ 5:46 pm
The solution to all the airlines problems! Hire lesbian, feminist, psychologist air hostesses to perform risk analysis of all male single passengers.
These air hostesses could interview unaccompanied children what a coup that would be. Innocent children boarding the plane, but by the end of the flight they would have dicovered repressed memories of child abuse somewhere in their past
Comment by rejected — Tue 29th November 2005 @ 8:13 pm
also check out:
Qantas & Air New Zealand — Guilty By Association
‘We can never fix one evil with another evil. We cannot defend one freedom by trampling on the very freedoms we cherish. By all means (in fact it is your duty to) protect the rights of our precious children but don’t label me a paedophile simply because I’m a male.’
fantastic stuff from the author!!
somehow we must use these examples as a springboard to further our cause. surely
Comment by MarkL — Thu 1st December 2005 @ 10:27 am
This issue has hit the news big-time!
There was a Press Release from the Men’s Coalition:
Fathers call on Kiro to resign
Airlines ban men from sitting next to children
Comments from National Party political correctness eradicator Wayne Mapp:
and Green MP Keith Locke:
The story spread to Australia:
Airlines’ children policy ‘insane’
Airlines’ no men near children policy slammed
Critics of airlines’ seating policy grow
Man protests airlines’ decision up a tree
Human rights inquiry into airline policy
The story featured on TV One Close Up – for a while you can watch a video clip of it here: seat swapping
Susan Wood read out part of an e-mail by Darryl Ward:
Jim Bagnall has been protesting at Auckland airport with the Union of Fathers bus, but was moved on today with threats of trespass and having his vehicle towed. He says:
Comment by JohnP — Thu 1st December 2005 @ 11:53 am
Some more comments
Although suspicions may by more rife in today’s society, Detective Jason Perry, family violence co-ordinator, said the majority of complaints about suspected child abuse were genuine.
“We do receive some vexatious complaints but the majority of them are genuine,” he said. “We investigate those and on the basis of evidence they’re prosecuted.”
But James Gatenby, practice leader at Child Youth and Family in Tauranga, said fathers had lost confidence and understanding about the role they needed to play in their children’s lives because of paranoia about accusations of child abuse that have swept through society.
“There’s far more awareness now about fathers and stepfathers, about how they interact with their children or stepchildren in public. There is a conscious awareness that there are eyes on them and they can’t express themselves as freely as they would possibly like to.”
He said that, as a result, fathers were denying their roles and responsibilities and it would take a lot of work to regain lost ground. “When we look into notifications that we receive, dads say ‘well we’re going to be hands off from now and leave the certain aspects of parenting, such as bathing or toileting to the mothers and grandmothers’.
“I think it takes lot of work to really regain their confidence. The message we are giving to fathers is that it’s really important that they are taking those roles on, like being affectionate and being comfortable about showing your emotions towards your children, and doing things like bathing your daughters and taking them to the toilet,” Mr Gatenby said.
“In the work we do do there is a gap where children don’t have positive role models in their lives, particularly male role models.”
Bad memories of an incident similar to Mr Worsley’s have resurfaced for Bethlehem fire officer Philip Price over the past few days.
“It was an experience I will never forget. The fact that the airline regards men in this way is totally unacceptable, discriminatory and a case of extreme political correctness,” he said.
Mr Price was on an Air New Zealand flight to Christchurch on a winter trip in 2002, seated across the aisle from his wife and two children, aged 14 and 16. Just before take off he was asked by a flight attendant to swap places with his wife because he was sitting next to two unaccompanied children.
“I was absolutely stunned and speechless. I complied without making a fuss but only to avoid embarrassing my wife and, in particular, my two children.
“My wife was so angry and stunned because she felt for me. What offended and hurt me most was the perception by Air New Zealand that because I was a man I was a risk to young children and this was demonstrated quite publicly after all the passengers had been seated.”
He urged the airline to review its procedure for seating passengers to avoid the humiliation he went through.
“If the airline is concerned then they need to deal with it so passengers are never put in that situation. They need to deal with it on boarding. I don’t think I’d move so easily next time, unless there was an issue of aircraft safety. No-one wants to make a fuss though.”
When the Bay of Plenty Times asked Mr Price whether he would mind a male sitting next to his own child on a plane he said: “The thought never even entered my mind. I have never heard of a child molestation on a plane before. You need to have a certain amount of faith in society.”
Hans Laven, a Tauranga clinical psychologist said that policies trod on risky ground, initiating a dangerous spiral of discrimination in society.
“It’s very dangerous to start discriminating against a class of people on the basis of perceived characteristics of a few. That’s why we have laws against it. A policy like that provides children with an image that men are to be feared and have no value.”
I don’t see how that can help.
“How will it benefit a child to be prevented from an equal opportunity of sharing some communication with a male, which is an important part of childrens’ development.”
Mr Laven has experience working with child molesters and says the chances of a child being molested on a plane were so remote.
“There is a risk, possibly as great or greater than a man molesting a child on an aeroplane, of a woman on a plane suffering from post-natal depression or a personality disorder that may lead her to feel an urge to harm a child, which unfortunately also occurs.”
But Dr Neville Robertson, a community psychologist at the University of Waikato thinks that there are no grounds for discrimination claims over the policy.
“It has been clumsily handled. But this is being portrayed as an infringement of men’s rights and I would have to ask that if I’m allocated seat 1F instead of 4E – how has that infringed my rights?
“Discrimination means that you deny someone a right and the right in this case is a comfortable seat on the plane – and that’s what they [men] will get. I think reaction to this is disproportionate. People take it personally – it’s not a personal attack at all.”
Comment by domviol — Thu 1st December 2005 @ 2:05 pm
Is this incident a wedge that we can use to pry open some debate on the gender issues in nz? I hope so. It sounds like people from all walks in life are saying enough is enough. Keep the blowtorch on this one.
Comment by MarkL — Thu 1st December 2005 @ 3:14 pm
Protest! – Air New Zealand
* Auckland
* meet outside District Court
* Albert St
* Monday 5th December
* 12.00 Midday
Comment by JohnP — Fri 2nd December 2005 @ 8:47 pm
This incident provides a small window of a great opportunity to expose this sort of crap we as Men have to put up with in society. I implore everyone to jump at the chance to make what we can of it.
It’s a shame about the short notice for the protest ! But I will do everything I can to be there.
Comment by Moose — Sat 3rd December 2005 @ 1:28 am
The hurtful, vile policy of Air New Zealand and Qantas banning men from sitting next to unaccompanied children must be exposed and condemned as the hideous, dehumanizing sexism that it is. While such a policy may “fly” in Australia and New Zealand (and, I earnestly hope that it will not continue to do so), it is repugnant to egalitarian principles and to any notion of gender equity. Surely, if such a policy were implemented in the United States, it would violate federal and state anti-discrimination laws. Rosa Parks, who recently passed away, became an American hero precisely because she refused to submit to a policy dictating where she should sit on a bus because of her race. Air New Zealand and Qantas (as well as Children’s Commissioner Dr. Cindy Kiro, who reportedly supports that policy) believe, however, that gender should dictate where passengers are allowed to sit on planes, treating male passengers like pariahs. The civilized world must reject and denounce such sexism as emphatically as it has rejected and denounced racism. Unless and until Air New Zealand and Qantas abandon that hurtful, egregiously sexist policy — with an apology, they do not deserve the patronage of men.
Comment by Larry — Mon 19th December 2005 @ 9:53 am
Has nobody ever taken AirNZ to court about this ?
Comment by zubbazubba — Wed 9th April 2008 @ 7:50 am
Hi guys, my wife had a sexual abuse allegation made against her back in 1995 by the woman who has had her son all this time, its just a shame the police were never involved like my wife wanted as this allegation has ruied her life, now her son is 13yrs he deserves to know why his poor innocent mother hasnt been allowed to see him all these years, it is unbelievable how easy it is to make an allegation against someone like that and get away with it, there might be so many sex offenders out there but that doesnt mean to say we are all like that, you would have to be insane to touch young children, i know of a lot of fathers who love their children more than anything in the world and i am one of them
Comment by Hadi Akbari — Wed 9th April 2008 @ 10:20 am
Hi I’m not from NZ but decided to do some digging on the Qantas / Air NZ story as we have the same problem in the uk with British Airways. (unfortunately it never got the same coverage as Qantas / AIR NZ, though it does make it into certain mational newspapers every now and again). Anyway there is a pretty big update for the Air new Zealand case:
I emailed Human Rights Review Tribunal to ask if there was any verdict on the complaint by Dr Wayne Mapp against Qantas and Air New Zealand. I received a reply from Maria Galvin to say “No decision was given by the Human Rights Review Tribunals as the claim was withdrawn by Dr Mapp on 22/1/08”.
I’ve no idea why Dr Mapp has done this and there is no mention of this news in the media (perhaps this story would be worthy of a new article so everyone can see it? – feel free to cut and paste)
Mr Mapp’s email address is:
[email protected]
I shall be asking him why he has done this and suggest others do the same.
Comment by John Kimble — Wed 9th April 2008 @ 11:21 am
ok another update – just received an email from the governemtn stating that the “claim was ‘withdrawn as being settled’ on 22 January 2008. ”
No idea what this means, though sounds more promising than the 1st email I got, Does anyone else have any information please?
Comment by John Kimble — Wed 9th April 2008 @ 4:50 pm
British Airways have the same sexist policy. It makes me want to throw up that I am judged to be a paedophile just because of my gender. Captain MRA, UK Men’s rights activist for 11 years.
Comment by Captain MRA — Sun 27th July 2008 @ 7:24 am
They speak Maori on feminist Air New Zealand but a man
can’t sit next to children . What a MAD country run by
sexist criminals !!!
Comment by dad4justice — Sun 27th July 2008 @ 12:29 pm
its utter bullshit alright
Comment by ford — Sun 17th January 2010 @ 9:32 am
I wouldn’t think everybody will be over the moon about Cindy Kiro being the new Gov.
Comment by Evan Myers — Mon 24th May 2021 @ 5:07 pm