Podcast Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: Todo Concostrina
Host: Nieves Concostrina (SER Podcast)
Episode: Acontece que no es poco | Las 'sky girls'
Date: June 28, 2022

In this lively and witty history episode, Nieves Concostrina explores the origins and evolution of the flight attendant profession, focusing on the pioneering women who overcame societal and workplace obstacles to take to the skies. The story centers on Ellen Church, the first female flight attendant, and how the profession gradually transformed, including its early roles, societal perceptions, and the quirks of its various names across time and countries.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Early Days of Air Passenger Service (00:59 – 03:03)

• Flight Attendants Weren’t Always Women: Nieves dispels the common belief that the role of attending to passengers was always meant for women.
  • “Quizás todo el mundo dé por hecho que hasta hace unos años el puesto de auxiliar de vuelo estaba reservado a las mujeres, por razones obvias... Pero… en los primeros vuelos comerciales… las primeras personas que sirvieron… fueron hombres.” [Nieves, 00:59]
• From Zeppelins to Airplanes: In the early 20th century (1910s), passenger service began on zeppelins, with male waiters in tuxedos and bowties (as popularized by movies such as Indiana Jones).
• Changing Names: The position has had many labels: azafatas, auxiliares de vuelo, today’s “Tripulante de Cabina de Pasajeros (TCP)”, often growing in formality and bureaucracy.

2. How Women Became Flight Attendants (03:03 – 07:43)

• A Matter of Circumstance & One Woman’s Determination:

  • Initially, companies didn't consider hiring women for these jobs.

  • "Primero fueron las circunstancias. Y la fundamental que hizo cambiar de idea fue precisamente una mujer." [Nieves, 03:15]

  • The story of Ellen Church: She wanted to be a pilot (and was qualified) but was refused because she was a woman.

  • Memorable Moment: Ellen Church persistently offered an alternative: if she couldn’t fly as a pilot, she could still be useful onboard. Notably, she was also a trained nurse, which she cleverly leveraged.

    "¿Tú estás tonta? ¿Que tú quieres qué? ¿Que tú quieres pilotar? Anda, tira, tira..."
    [Nieves imitando la reacción de la época, 03:37]

  • First Service: She became the first flight attendant in 1930 on a flight from Oakland to Chicago, hired primarily for her nursing skills to calm and care for anxious and potentially nauseous passengers.

• Why Nurses?

  • Flying in the 1930s was turbulent and stressful, lacking modern comforts or pressurized cabins.
  • Passengers were more likely to need a nurse than a waiter due to anxiety and airsickness.
  • “...no necesitaban un camarero, necesitaban una enfermera.” [Nieves, 05:39]

• Sexism in Early Aviation:

  • Despite being a pilot, Ellen Church was relegated to flight attendant.

  • Another pioneer, Helen Richey, became a pilot in 1934 but suffered severe discrimination from male colleagues, forcing her to give up flying.

    "Porque le hicieron la vida absolutamente imposible… sus compañeros no la querían pilotando un avión de pasajeros."
    [Nieves, 08:24]

3. Naming the Profession (09:03 – 11:03)

• “Sky Girls”: The first female flight attendants were informally called ‘Sky Girls’—not to be confused with ‘Spice Girls,’ Nieves quips.

  • “Las empezaron a llamar por aquel entonces las Sky Girls. No confundir con las Spice Girls.” [Nieves, 09:03]

  • The term ‘Stewardess’ was adopted as a compromise, distancing from the perception of needing nurses aboard (which, companies feared, could make passengers nervous).

    “...van a ser chicas muy monas. Van a estar dedicadas al confort del pasajero... Y además, si los pasajeros ven que son delicadas y débiles mujeres, van a tener menos miedo a volar si se atreven ellas.”
    [Nieves, argumentando el razonamiento misógino de la época, 10:15]

• Hiring Criteria: All ‘Sky Girls’ needed to be trained nurses, attractive (“monas”), and single—leading to jealousy among pilots’ wives.

  > "No sé por qué dan tanto miedo nuestras tetas."  
  [Nieves, 11:01, en tono irónico]
  

4. España: Las Primeras Azafatas (11:17 – 13:15)

• In Spain: “Las Marquesas”:

  • The first Spanish flight attendant was possibly Ana Marsans in 1946, at the start of Franco’s dictatorship.

  • Local nicknames like ‘las Marquesas’ highlighted the high social class and educational background required—fluency in English and a nursing degree.

    “Aquí las primeras… la primera se llamaba Ana Marsans… la llamaban las Marquesas.”
    [Nieves, 11:20]

  • The RAE suggested the official term ‘Provisora’ but it was rejected for being archaic and unattractive—‘azafata’ was chosen instead, adapted from the Arabic ‘as safat’, the maids of Moorish queens.

    “Entre lo de reconquista y Provisora, a la RAE se va a tener que dar una lavadita de caspa.”
    [Nieves, 12:00, en tono humorístico]

  • Across Latin America, the term used was ‘aeromozas’.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Absurdity of Early Exclusion:
  “Menos mal que Ellen Church era listísima, mucho más que el directivo, y reaccionó allí mismo diciéndole más o menos eso. Ustedes me necesitan.” [Nieves, 05:39]

• On Early Sexist Reasoning for Hiring ‘Sky Girls’:
  “Si los pasajeros ven que son delicadas y débiles mujeres, van a tener menos miedo a volar si se atreven ellas. ¿Cómo se va a resistir a subir a lo mismo?” [Nieves, 10:15]

• On Naming and Official Terminology:
  “El nombre oficial que se barajó primero y que sugirió la RAE fue Provisora. Provisora, qué nombre más…” [Nieves, 11:48]
  “...azafata… adaptado del término árabe as safat, que significa... las criadas de las reinas moras en Al Ándalus.” [Nieves, 12:10]

• On Misogyny and Social Fear:
  “No sé por qué dan tanto miedo nuestras tetas.” [Nieves, 11:01]
  “Sin ellas no habría humanidad ni habría belleza.” [Copresentador, 11:03]

Time-Stamped Highlights

• 00:59–03:03: Early flight service and male waiters in zeppelins
• 03:15–07:43: Ellen Church’s journey and the necessity of nurses on planes
• 08:24: Helen Richey’s discrimination as the first female pilot of a US airline
• 09:03–11:03: Creation of the ‘Sky Girls’ and the odd requirements for early flight attendants
• 11:17–13:15: Origins of “azafata” in Spain, “las Marquesas”, and debates over naming

Conclusion

Nieves Concostrina, with her trademark humor and historical curiosity, traces the unlikely and fascinating pathway of how women took to the skies—not as pilots initially, but as pioneering nurses-turned-flight attendants. Through stories of courage, institutional sexism, and language quirks, listeners gain a new appreciation for the "Sky Girls," the evolution of their profession, and the persistent cultural baggage around flight attendant roles, especially in Spain.