The airline has also been hit by several embarrassing incidents, including the jailing of one of its pilots in Britain in November for being drunk before he was due to fly a plane. PHOTO: FILE
Captain Rifat Haye, who joined Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in 1990, said in a petition to the court that she had been subjected to "severe intimidation and harassment" by male colleagues since the early years of her career.
Frustrated by the lack of action from her superiors over her complaints, Haye went to the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Women's Development in 2010.
The committee found that two of Haye's superiors had harassed her and other female employees of the beleaguered flag-carrier, Haye's lawyer Jawad Hassan said in his submission.
"On March 31, 2010, (the committee) had recommended strict disciplinary action against them, but so far authorities have been avoiding its implementation," Hassan said.
"Haye also filed cases in high court which ruled in her favour but PIA management did not take any action."
Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani ordered PIA Chairman Muhammad Ali Gardezi to explain within two weeks why no action had been taken on Haye's case.
He also sought comments from the top bureaucrat in the law, justice and human rights ministry about the implementation of the workplace harassment law.
Pakistan passed a law aimed at protecting women from harassment at work in March 2010 and earlier amended its Code of Criminal Procedure to make the offence of harassment punishable by up to three years imprisonment.
The government has been trying to sell off a 26 percent stake in PIA in a bid to stem losses.
The company lost $320 million last year and the deficit would have been much larger if the state had not been pouring money into its coffers in a bid to keep it afloat.
The airline has also been hit by several embarrassing incidents, including the jailing of one of its pilots in Britain in November for being drunk before he was due to fly a plane carrying 156 people.
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@BieberKhan: Hahaaah! Yessir.......you are right. Fully agree with you. Salams
The lady should just go to retired Chief Justice Choudhary Iftikhar Muhammad and ask him to intervene. He is the man and has made his voice heard. He will bamboo the culprits. Salams
Having laws on the books for the protection of women is useless.........unless the laws are enforced. The legal system has failed and failed miserably and yet apart from ad-hoc measures no concrete steps are being taken to set matters right.
Its not just PIA. Overall culture in Pakistan is that any woman who steps out of home for a living is a prey. Unfortunately we don't groom out children to treat women as equal humans and not someone different. These children when grown up continue to consider women as sex objects and given any opportunity they try to take advantage. Some women fall victim and some succumb to intense coercion like second marriages of our mighty Chief Minister among others.
Great people to fly with, now look like great people to work with also!
If he case is proved, then the staff who harassed her MUST be given exemplary punishment (no matter what their rank or "connections").
Well done Captain for your brave stand.
It must be incredibly tough - no matter which country you are in - to take this step.
Discrimination on the basis of sex, religion and race has no place in modern Pakistan
That 26 percent stake should be sold to our true ancestors, the Saudis, because one thing we know about them for sure is that those peeps don't sexually harass women, but instead direct their libidinous tendencies squarely towards men.
Keep Flying