This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Tui Airways is at the centre of a sexism row after flight attendants were accused of handing out stickers to children that encouraged girls to be cabin crew and boys to be pilots.

A passenger on board a flight from Cyprus to Bristol said stickers were handed to boys that read “future pilot” while girls were given ones that read “future cabin crew”.

Dame Gillian Morgan, 56, a doctor and scientist who saw the stickers being handed out on a flight from Bristol to Cyprus, said the act was “deeply sexist”.

She said she was “absolutely sure” it wasn’t an accident.

“The stickers were gender neutral but it’s the way that they were handed out that makes it complicated,” she told Metro. “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.

“We desperately need more women to do science, maths and engineering but little things like this take us backwards by providing restricting roles.”

Another passenger, Linzi Williams, also complained about the stickers earlier this summer. “Lovely touch by @TUIUK flying out to Corfu Friday by giving children TUI stickers and activity sheet,” she tweeted.

“Not so lovely that all the boys were given ‘future pilot’ stickers and the girls ‘future cabin crew’?! Sexist much?

“I think it ‘subtly’ sends children messages that jobs are gendered. I tell my daughter she can have any job she wants, without boundaries, as long as she works hard enough. I feel that this undermines that”.

Linzi Will_i_ams (@Befuddled13) 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? 😡

djdump (@St_Pirran) @TUIUK your cabin crew today chose "future tui cabin crew" stickers for the girls and "future pilot" for the boys, no female pilots then? 👿

A spokesperson for Tui said the incident was a “simple mix-up”.

“We’re sorry to hear a small number of customers have been upset by this,” the airline said. “We think it has just been a simple mix-up since our future pilot and cabin crew stickers are designed for use for any child regardless of gender.

“The stickers are part of our activity packs which are intended to be used by crew to interact, engage with and create special moments for our customers on their holiday.

“The feedback we’ve had so far this summer has been overwhelmingly positive.

“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.”

Tui was under scrutiny for having one of the largest gender pay gaps reported to date by a major UK company, with its male employees paid more than double the female staff.

According to data filed under a new government scheme this year, women at the group’s Tui Airways UK unit earn on average 56.9% less in hourly pay than men, while Tui’s median pay gap is 47.3%.

