‪Une marche vers l’égalité professionnelle en trompe-l’œil‪. Disponibilité biographique et inégalités de carrière des hôtesses et stewards

?This article offers a comparative analysis of the careers of male and female flight attendants in air transport. Using personnel files, collective agreements and interviews with flight attendants, we show that the picture of improvements in career equality in the airline under study is illusory. For earlier cohorts, the massive prevalence of women as flight attendants has been accompanied by growing access to positions of responsibility inflight (cabin manager) and on the ground (base manager), while repeated cross-sectional data indicate a narrowing of the gap between men and women in entry and exit conditions over time. However, our longitudinal analysis of a cohort of flight attendants who entered the company more recently (between 1998 and 2001) reveals gender inequalities in the likelihood of promotion, to the disadvantage of women, as well as highly gendered career models, with women notably more likely to work part-time. Rather than countering this tendency, the shift from a system of promotions based on seniority to one based on selection reinforces gender inequalities, contrary to the claims associated to the equal opportunity policy implemented by the airline beginning in the early 2000s. This is because the new system is more heavily based on employees? investment in the company throughout their careers, and thus on biographical availability, which is greater among men than women.?