Hi SFI145, "Femininity in flight" has the following:
But as USA flight attendants were taking the airlines to court in the late 1960s and early 1970s, they found themselves wearing hot pants and other skimpy uniforms, uttering slogans like “fly me” in airline ads, and starring in novels and films such as The Fly Girls and Swinging Stewardesses.
Airline marketing had taken a salacious turn, and pop culture was even more explicit in portraying stewardesses as poster girls of a sexier era. In their unions and a new group called Stewardesses for Women’s Rights, flight attendants protested the exploitive ways they were being portrayed, most of all by their own employers.
Flight attendants directed their growing anger at other argets as well, especially their lack of union autonomy and inattention to their role in passengers' safety and their own on-the-job health concerns. By the end of the 1970s, “stewardesses,” long saddled with harsh employment restrictions, unions beholden to male overseers, and flattery rather than respect, transformed themselves into “flight attendants,” with better career prospects, independent unions, and growing recognition of their safety work.
Where I work, the company started referring to us as Cabin Attendants or CAs sometime in the 1990-ies.
We call ourselves stewards and stewardesses.
