Two Japanese airlines recently changed their stances on flight attendants wearing high heels, in response to growing pressure from employees, podiatrists and a hashtag about shoe pain. 

In March of this year, between issuing press releases about reduced flight schedules due to the pandemic, Japan Airlines made another kind of announcement: As of April, female flight attendants would no longer be required to wear high heels outside the aircraft cabin. (Most airlines already discourage heels inside the cabin for safety reasons.)

Less than two months later, in May, another Japanese airline — All Nippon Airways (ANA) — made a similar announcement. Whereas flight attendants had previously been instructed to wear heels that were between 3 cm and 5 cm high, the new policy removed the minimum requirement for height. Now, ANA female flight attendants are asked to wear heels that are 5 cm or lower.

For the two Japanese airlines, the timing of the changes suggest they were at least partly in response to a campaign called the #KuToo movement, which is part of a broader feminist shift within Japanese culture. At the time of Japan Airlines’ announcement, Reuters said the company was trying to encourage a more diverse working environment and quoted spokesman Mark Morimoto saying this would be the first time that the airline was introducing trousers and expanding footwear options.

The social media hashtag #KuToo — a play on Japanese words for shoe (kutsu) and pain (kutsuu), and an allusion to the “MeToo” movement — was started by Japanese actress and writer Yumi Ishikawa. She launched the campaign with a tweet in January 2019 about having to wear high-heeled shoes to work. Her comment was explosively popular, going viral as women re-tweeted her words alongside photos of their own pained feet, bloodied and blistered from wearing high heels all day.

More than a year later, the hashtag continues to grow in popularity and breadth, extending beyond high heels and into a range of equality issues. But at its heart was the issue of Japanese women being required to — or at least expected to by tradition — wear high heels at work.

In a petition she created last year on Change.org to, addressed to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Ms Ishikawa wrote: “We ask the government to issue notifications for employers not to require mandatory heels at work depending on gender.” Doing so would help employers who may be unable to talk directly to employees about the topic, for fear of retribution, she said.

The message of #KuToo has reached the top. At a March 3 Upper House Budget Committee session, Akira Koike, secretary-general of the Japanese Communist Party, asked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe if he would support abolishing dress codes deemed painful for women, according to Japan’s national newspaper  Asahi Shimbun.

“I want to say clearly that women should never be forced to suffer from dress (codes) despite doing the same job as their male counterparts,” Mr Abe was quoted as responding. Two weeks later, Mr Koike made a point of praising Japan Airlines’ decision to revise its dress code.

Other battlegrounds

The fight against mandatory high heels is not confined to Japan. About a year ago, as #KuToo was gaining ground, a similar battle was being waged in Norway. The headlines tell the story quite succinctly: An April 16, 2019 article in the UK’s Independent was titled “Norwegian Air tells female staff they must carry doctor’s note at all times if they want to wear flat shoes”. Less than three weeks later, the May 3 headline reads: “Norwegian Air drops dress code requiring female staff to wear high heels”.

Why the quick change of heart by Norwegian? Because the airline’s 22-page dress code had just become public. It stipulated that female employees must wear heels that were at least 2cm high and that employees who wished to wear flat shoes due to foot health conditions had to have a doctor’s note to hand as proof that they were exempt from the rule.

Soon after, nearly 20,000 people signed a petition that demanded the airline modernise its dress code. The petition was effective.

Not all airlines are on board with the idea of making high heels optional. In 2015, the El Al Israel Airlines actually made a move tightening its guidance instead of relaxing it. The Israeli airline announced that not only did flight attendants have to wear high-heeled shoes on the ground, they had to keep the high heels on until all passengers were boarded and seated.

The announcement was met with frustration by flight attendants, and at least 200 signed a petition calling for a return to the previous policy which allowed attendants to change into flats before passengers boarded. As of now, the protests did not appear to change any minds. El Al did not return a request for comment, but as recently as last spring the New York Times reported that the policy was still in effect.

Lowering the heels, not the standards

The new footwear policies from ANA, Japan Airlines and Norwegian fall into line with requirements seen in other major airlines.

The American Airlines policy on footwear, for example, states that heel height maximum is 3 inches and there is no required minimum height. “It is recommended that flight attendants change from higher heeled shoes to flat/lower heeled shoes prior to in-flight service,” the policy says, adding that non-slip soles are preferred.

A spokesperson for Virgin Airlines says that heels are never worn onboard Virgin planes for safety reasons; crew members wear a flat burgundy pump.

“On the ground,” she tells World Footwear, “for our crew travelling to and from work or for our teams at the airport, we offer red shoes with three different heel heights: 3 inch, 2 inch and 1 inch. However, if our people would prefer to wear a different shoe — for example, a flat — then we will provide a £25 shoe voucher for them to buy their own.”

This is important for so many women, according to a flight attendant of 21 years we spoke to for this article. Michele, who asked that we not use her last name, is employed by a major international airline that does not require its flight attendants to wear high heels.

Reasons behind the growing demands to lighten high heel requirements can stem from issues of gender equality, foot health, comfort and more, but Michele points out it can also be a factor in a woman’s career path.

“Many women become flight attendants in their early twenties, when walking in high heels all the time is less likely to be a problem. But then they realise they love the job and want to make a lifelong career out of it,” she says. “For women who develop painful foot issues as they get older, having to wear high heels all the time could force excellent, experienced women out of a job that they are highly qualified for.”

Despite the relaxation of requirements regarding high heels, most major airlines require flight attendants to adhere to a relatively strict footwear dress code. Nippon Airlines, for example, specifies the width of a shoe’s heel must be 3cm or more, and the airline says shoes must be plain black leather.

American Airlines’ footwear policy contains more than 15 parameters, ranging from required shoe style, colour and material, to the number of straps allowed, what can and cannot be worn with trousers, and the fact that knee-high boots are only allowed in inclement weather.

Michele however is proud of the way she and her team appear in uniform; she describes the “striking” appearance of seeing crews from other airlines moving through the airport, coordinated from head to toe.

And, despite the option to wear flats, Michele continues to wear high heels. “I prefer working in heels,” she says. “They give me better posture; I feel more confident, more professional. Walking back and forth across the airport, I like the brisk, efficient click-click-click in the terminal.”

Credit: Naitian (Tony) Wang / Unsplash

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