TUI airways has found itself in hot water over 'sexist' stickers given to children on-board that 'encouraged gender stereotypes'.
One passenger, who was flying to Bristol from Cyprus, claims to have witnessed one of the airline's flight attendants handing out stickers to kids on the plane.
But as Dame Gillian Morgan made her way through passport control, she says that the boys had all been given stickers which read 'Future Pilot', and all of the girls' stickers read 'Future Cabin Crew'.
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The passenger recalled the stickers being 'gender neutral', but took issue with the way that they were handed out.
She felt that the it was a 'deliberate decision' to sort the stickers by gender, calling it 'deeply sexist'.
"It happens implicitly all the time. The boys can have the Lego, the space rocket going to the moon, and the girls can have a little pony," the trained doctor and scientist told Metro.
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"We desperately need more women to do science, maths and engineering but little things like this take us backwards by providing restricting roles."
Gillian, who was flying with her great-nephew and great-niece at the time, believes that gender stereotyping stops the country optimising its workforce.
She added: "In 30 years' time it might be likely that the majority of pilots will still be men but we should not be turning off the girls who are going to be the ones to walk on Mars."
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While Gillian pointed out that the company was trying to take a step in the right direction, she felt that it had 'fundamentally missed the point' and should have 'given it more thought'.
The Chair of NHS Providers isn't the only TUI passenger who was outraged by the stickers.
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Last month, one Twitter user fumed: "Lovely touch by @TUIUK flying out to Corfu Friday by giving children TUI stickers and activity sheet.... not so lovely that all the boys were given "future pilot" stickers and the girls "future cabin crew"?! Sexist much?"
"Boy's given 'future captain' badges while girls got 'future cabin crew' by TUI staff. Gender stereotyping careers needs to stop! Girls can be Pilots and boys can be Cabin Crew too!" shared somebody else.
TUI has formally apologised for the stickers in a statement, saying that the pilot and cabin crew stickers were 'designed for use for any child regardless of gender'.
A spokesperson added: "Children fall in love with flying when they go on their holidays with us and we want to encourage their dreams of becoming future pilots and crew members."
Featured Image Credit: Wikimedia CommonsTopics: Life News, Real, travel
