Julia Cooke
What image comes to mind when you think of an airline stewardess from the 1960s or '70s? Maybe it's a conventionally beautiful woman in a trim uniform, smiling as she serves coffee to men in suits. While this certainly was part of the job, the stewardesses working for Pan American World Airways were, in fact, breaking ground for other women flight attendants of the future.
The coveted job with the exclusively international American airline afforded women financial independence and freedom to travel. It also came with considerable danger, as planes flew in and out of war zones, not to mention blatantly sexist regulations regarding female employees' age, appearance and marital status.