A gender analysis of intercultural sensitivity among flight attendants

Due to the nature of gender as a social construct, it is commonly believed that women are more sensitive than men and are therefore more suited to certain employment positions, such as those customer facing roles in the hospitality industry. Little empirical evidence supports this idea, but this commonly held assumption may be part of the reason why flight attendants are predominantly women. To test intercultural sensitivity between women and men flight attendants, this paper explored intercultural sensitivity in a sample of 204 flight attendants in the Middle East. According to the results, women expressed more intercultural sensitivity in four out of five factors. These findings should help airlines design training for flight attendants, where they may have to undo gender.