Watchdog urges Korean Air to drop 'sexist' hiring

SEOUL, Dec. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's human rights watchdog urged the nation's
top carrier to drop its policy of banning males from applying for flight crew
positions, describing the policy as "sexually discriminating."
The National Human Rights Commission advised Korean Air to correct its policy of
excluding male job seekers from open recruitments for flight attendant positions.
The company has been filling male positions internally with employees from other
divisions since 1997 when it dropped male cabin crew recruitment.
Korean Air rejected the recommendation, however, saying that its policy was not
discriminatory but rather was based on "strategic decisions" meant to strengthen
the company's competitiveness.
Korean Air, which also partially fills positions for female flight crew
internally, holds regular and open recruitment sessions solely open to female
applicants.
"Discretionary personnel management cannot justify excluding a certain gender
from the job application process," the commission said in a statement.
It added that Korean Air's policy is "irrational," on the grounds that customer
service jobs are not exclusive to females and that most domestic and foreign
competitors do not have gender restrictions on job positions.
Asiana Airlines, the nation's No. 2 air carrier, repealed a similar recruitment
policy earlier this year.
In a statement, Korean Air said it cannot accept the recommendation, arguing that
the female-only hiring process is, in effect, a supplementary recruitment process
as the dropout rate of female workers is relatively higher than their male
counterparts.
"We cannot accept the commission's recommendation as it was based on a simple and
schematic comparison without understanding the company's strategic position,"
Korean Air said.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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