#2 Prepare for take off: DESCRIPTIONS OF AN SIA GIRL

(photo edited from http://www.cntraveller.com/news/2011/november/the-pan-am-look-stylish-air-travel/page/the-pan-am-look-singapore-airlines-by-pierre-balmain)

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE SIA GIRL

2.1 Feminization of the Singapore Girl’s Body

The Singapore Girl created in 1972, has long been a representation of the Singapore Airlines Industry. She is said to engender Asian values and hospitality and her elegance has graced the Airline’s innumerous global marketing campaigns, constantly winning over travelers around the world (SIA, 2014a). As SIA (2014a) puts it, “the epitome of Asian grace and hospitality, the Singapore Girl has been synonymous with Singapore Airlines since her creation in 1972, an enduring symbol of our impeccable service standards - service even other airlines talk about.”

In her distinctive uniform, a sarong kebaya in batik material, the Singapore Girl has been one of the airline industry’s most recognizable figures. The tight-fitting kebaya emphasizing their slim figures along with a neat, standardized bun or bob (types of hairstyle) and red lips are some of the common observable traits found in a Singapore Girl. Such traits gives great aesthetic pleasure and draws notable attention to her physical appearance.The body of a Singapore Girl becomes a renowned marketing symbol for the airline industry with such traits clearly visible as seen in them gracefully walking around the airport as well as in SIA’s commercials and advertisements. These traits can demonstrate how the Singapore Girl’s figure is gendered in particularly feminized ways where a woman’s body is viewed as being sensuous, always a ‘desirable other’ represented in advertisements and so on (Thapan, 1995) and beauty itself has traditionally been gendered as a female trait of desirability (Erica Reischer and Katheryn S. Soo, 2004). Here, the body is modified in pursuit of beauty aligned to the cultural ideal of the Singapore Airline Industry.

This is further emphasized by our interview with an ex-Singapore Girl, Miss C, where she explained how physical appearance and aesthetic features are extremely crucial in a Singapore Girl with their body constantly being examined and judged accordingly. One of the stages to get through to being a Singapore girl includes “… a physical body check to measure our height and weight, and to see if there were any visible flaws or scars on our skin”, as mentioned in the interview by Miss C. The strict criteria in place to formally select a Singapore Girl demonstrates how only specific body types are accepted and when a body does not fit into its criteria, it is dismissed. This statement is echoed in Miss C’s response, “But yes they were very particular this round about looks and scars, and they found fault with some of my fellow interviewees, so they did not get through.”

2.2   Performativity of the Singapore Girl

Besides the distinctive physical outlook a Singapore Girl has to wear, a Singapore Girl is expected to possess qualities deemed compatible to the industry. As mentioned earlier, a Singapore Girl is said to engender “Asian values and hospitality” that translates to being patient, gentle, caring, cheerful and sensitive. Singapore Girls are required to reproduce this gendered performativity and service provision role in going her way out to serve customers regardless of her emotional condition at that point of time. This is evident when our group observed how proper Singapore Girls carry themselves when in airport and how they constantly maintained a soft tone and the use of polite language when communicating with others. As Miss C puts it, “… we also need to ensure an upholding of image by touching up our make up, constantly putting on a smile no matter how terrible the day may have been.”

All in all, a Singapore girl’s body is socially constructed and culturally performed to fit into this service industry as emphasized by how the body is feminized in particular ways and how a Singapore Girl reinforces this gendered performativity. Cultural ideals of beauty are also an index and expression of social values and beliefs (Jury & Jury, 1986). This is proven when the industry rejects women who do not heed the criteria set by the industry that is to reproduce “Asian grace and hospitality” as they are deemed incompatible. Descriptive stereotypes concern beliefs about traits that one gender has and when a woman does not conform to this gendered performativity, descriptive stereotyping should translate into discrimination when traits associated with that stereotype are incompatible with the traits needed for the job (Bobbitt-Zeher, 2011).

----> #3 IN-FLIGHT: REASONS FOR KEEPING THIS FIGURE SO FEMINIZED/IN SHAPE IN THE SIA BUSINESS MODEL

photo credit: http://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0CAQQjBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fm.c.lnkd.licdn.com%2Fmpr%2Fmpr%2Fp%2F8%2F005%2F087%2F345%2F1cb86e5.jpg&ei=BrxTVMmFBILh8AX-4oGwBw&psig=AFQjCNFYQdjxcmyCjKMd_mrtxGock-LbPQ&ust=1414860115599939