Spanish Anger Over Ryanair Bikini Calendar

The Institute for Women in Spain said yesterday that it would complain to Irish and EU authorities over a Ryanair charity calendar featuring female flight attendants wearing bikinis.

The institute, part of the ministry of labor and social affairs, said the photographs "represent the flight attendants as sexual objects". "It is significant that only women are used, in a sector in which there is a considerable percentage of men," it said in a statement.

The 2008 calendar - called the Girls of Ryanair - shows 12 flight attendants posing inside and outside planes. April is represented by "Nicola from Stansted", who appears in a bikini bottom, covering her modesty with a life jacket.

"We're not talking about morals or nudity here, it's simply how women are portrayed," said María Jesús Ortiz, spokeswoman for the institute. "If there had been men in the calendar I'm sure there would have been no controversy." The institute is taking legal advice on further action.

Ryanair has defended the £5 calendar in aid of the disabled children's charity Angels Quest, saying none of the women had been forced to pose. "We are just protecting women's rights to take their clothes off," a spokeswoman told Reuters.

The consumer group Facua complained to the institute, arguing that the calendar broke Spanish law by promoting macho behavior and violence towards women. "The company is attacking the dignity of women workers in general and especially of cabin crew members, by presenting stereotypical images of these professionals which they have spent years struggling against," it said.