Dusty Roads, Former American Airlines Flight Attendant, Talks Fighting Gender Discrimination With The Airlines (VIDEO)

In 1953, American Airlines announced that all female flight attendants would retire at age 32. In 1963, a group of female flight attendants issued a response to the edict, claiming gender and age discrimination. Among them was Dusty Roads, who spoke to PBS for their "Makers: Women Who Make America" project, which premieres February 26.

In the short clip above, Roads discusses what it was like being a female flight attendant for American Airlines in the 1950s ("It was a fabulous career. We were looked up to, we were admired," she says), the barriers she and other female flight attendants had to overcome--including sending the first case to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1965--in order to maintain their jobs passed the not-so-ripe age of 32.

Of the decision to fight for her right to work for the Airline past the age of 32, Roads says, "I wanted to make it a career instead of just a job." Roads proceeded to work for American Airlines until 1994.