Barbara "Dusty" Roads is an American

labor activist A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers. In some unions, the orga ...

and former

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

. She successfully fought the industry wide practice that fired stewardesses once they reached the age of 32, citing

gender discrimination Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...

when compared to male pilots. She helped found the

Association of Professional Flight Attendants The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) was founded in 1977 and represents over 28,000 flight attendants at American Airlines. In 2003, APFA played a major role in keeping American Airlines solvent and out of bankruptcy by giving ...

in 1977, one of the largest independent

labor unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

Early life and education

Roads was born and grew up in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. As a child, she was interested in becoming a pilot, but recalls her father telling her that the airlines "don’t hire ladies”. Roads graduated from Flora Stone Mather College. Her father, Conger G. Roads, was a lawyer who graduated from the Western Reserve University School of Law. Barbara has a brother, David.

Career and activism

Roads joined American Airlines as a flight attendant in 1950. In 1953, the airline implemented a change in the contracts for stewardesses that would force an '

early retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

' at the age of 32. This rule was soon adopted across the airline industry. Roads pushed for the Airline Stewards and Stewardesses Association (ALSSA) union to fight this rule on the grounds of gender discrimination. Roads served as the contract negotiator for ALSSA, as well as the chair for the Los Angeles base. In 1958, she was appointed to the role of ALSSA's national lobbyist. While working in Washington, D.C., she befriended both Rep. Martha W. Griffiths and Sen.

Margaret Chase Smith Margaret Madeline Smith (née Chase; December 14, 1897 – May 29, 1995) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as a U.S. representative (1940–1949) and a U.S. senator (1949–1973) from Maine. She was the firs ...

, earning their support for her cause. Roads continued the fight into the 1960s and regularly lobbied politicians and celebrities during flights, including then-Vice President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

. At a press conference in 1963, Roads famously asked reporters "Do I look like an old bag?", making newspaper headlines across the country and raising the national profile of the issue of gender discrimination. After the passage of the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...

, Roads joined with other flight attendants to file the first

anti-discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...

complaint in the United States. According to Roads: "The bill said that the

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...

would begin operating on July 1st, 1965. We were on their doorstep." Their case was finally won in 1968 when the EEOC issued a ruling disallowing "age ceilings" by American Airlines and the rest of the airline industry. In 1977, Roads helped found the

, one of the largest independent labor unions. Roads retired at the age of 66.

Later life

In 2017, Roads was honored as a "Trailblazing Woman in Labor and Business" by the

National Women's History Project The National Women's History Alliance (NWHA) is an American non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and preserving women's history. The NWHA was formerly known as the National Women's History Project. Based out of Santa Rosa, California sinc ...

for her work fighting gender discrimination within the airline industry.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roads, Barbara 1928 births Activists from Cleveland American Airlines people American women trade unionists American women's rights activists Flight attendants Living people Trade unionists from Ohio