Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Posted by : John Ross on Dec 12, 2007 - 11:05 AM airtravel

Remember that Ryanair "stripped" stewardesses' calendar (they aren't very stripped, they're in swimwear, not that they look as if they're going for a dip)? The Spanish consumer organization FACUA has complained about the calendar to, among others, the Spanish Ministry of Work and Social Affairs and the Instituto de la Mujer, Institute for Women, on the grounds that it "attacks the dignity of women workers in general and cabin crew in particular, presenting stereotyped images of these professionals against which they have been struggling for years." The Institute for Women has said that it will support the consumer association by complaining to the Irish authorities, as the calendar will not be sold in Spain, and bringing the case before the next meeting of the European Union's Grupo de Alto Nivel sobre Género. Unfortunately, the most accurate back-translation I can muster for the latter is "high-level sex group," but IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT.* Read more.

Ryanair maintains (as I reported here) that the calendar has been produced on the initiative of the girls themselves and that the aim is to raise money for charity. "The charitable purpose of the calendar is positive, but it means sexist representation of the women who work as passenger crew and of all women. They are represented as sex objects," says a spokesperson for the Institute for Women.

This is, of course, an excuse for some first-class hypocrisy, and all the sensationalist and not-usually-sensationalist Spanish media have carried the story, in almost all cases carrying at least a selection of the photos in question. So Ryanair has probably achieved even more publicity than it was expecting. Although the calendar itself is probably sold out by now - the company reported over a week ago that only 3,000 copies were left.

And I must point out that not one Spanish medium has even mentioned the charity in question. It is Angels Quest, a Dublin-based organization providing respite care for children with special needs (the "respite" is for the kids' parents or guardians, a worthy cause if ever there was one).

*In fact, the official name of this group in English is "the High Level Group on gender mainstreaming," which I am afraid sounds not just bureaucratic and wooly-minded ("mainstream" is not a verb, dammit!) but downright sinister to me.