Aoife Shaw

Project 2: Excess Baggage

My thesis topic stemmed from me acquiring a position as a baggage handler in Dublin airport in the summer of 2019. This experience highlighted the varying levels of emotional labour required of workers that are dependent on class or sex. This radically transformed my view of being a woman at work.

The ideal woman is a combination of physical beauty standards and the nurturing caring mother figure. As society changes and evolves so does its standards and exceptions, Flight attendants are a prime example of this, introduced in 1930’s they encountered a transformation of role in the 1960’s, adding to the necessity of being this nurse reassuring figure whilst fulfilling the sexual fantasy in the sky towards the male gaze.

My performance aligns itself with in-flight safety videos, it places itself within the context of women and the constraints they are exposed to. Highlighting the varying levels of emotional labour required of workers which are dependent on class or sex.

I aim to demonstrate the different levels of emotional labour between a baggage handler and flight attendant. Pulling back the curtains and revealing the burden of emotional labour that tends to fall on women in the workplace, with context to the flight attendant.