Shame on Air NZ

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.