Australia: Qantas Airlines Relaxes Uniform Rules; Allows Flats For Females And Long Hair For Men

Australia's national airline, Qantas, has relaxed its gender-based uniform rules, allowing male cabin crew to wear make-up and giving women the option to ditch high heels.

"Fashions change and so have our style guidelines over the years," the airline said in a statement on Friday.

The new rules also mean all employees, including pilots and flight attendants, can have long hair if it is worn in a ponytail or bun. Apart from that, now the cabin crew can choose to wear diamond earrings, while strict rules governing the size and style of watches have been dumped.

Qantas said the new 'style and grooming guidelines' would ditch the previous 'male' and 'female' uniform categories.

Why this change?

The changes came at the insistence of an Australian trade union that called on Qantas to move its 'uniform policy into the 21st century.'

Qantas changed the uniform rules after rival airline Virgin Atlantic eased their rules by adopting gender-neutral uniforms.

In an official statement, Qantas said it had overhauled its guidelines to better reflect modern expectations and to make uniforms more comfortable for staff from 'diverse cultural backgrounds'.

In the past, the airline has drawn attention for its fastidious style guide, which banned handlebar moustaches, policed the length of sideburns, and specified the ideal shades of eyeliner.