Qantas pilot Davida Forshaw sues airline amid sexual harassment and discrimination claims

A Qantas pilot who advocated for gender equality at the airline is now suing the company, alleging she has been sexually harassed and discriminated against.

Davida Forshaw, who has been with Qantas for 23 years and still serves as a first officer, alleges that she was sexually harassed by some of her male colleagues during her career in a claim statement she filed in federal court on Wednesday.

In the court documents, Ms Forshaw alleges she was told to dye her hair and wear a push-up bra, received a poor performance rating after rejecting sexual advances and fetching pilots coffee.

Ms. Forshaw also filed five complaints with Human Resources in the span of three months alleging three senior pilots discriminated against her because of her gender.

The veteran pilot was the face of gender equality for the airline, mentoring female pilots and urging more women to take up work.

Davida Forshaw claims she was discriminated against during her 23-year career for Qantas and filed a claim in Federal Court last Wednesday.

Ms Forshaw claimed Qantas told her she would do “a lot better” if she decided to dye her hair blonde and wear a push-up bra. the Australian reported.

She claimed she also rejected the sexual advances of a superior at a hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, before receiving a poor performance rating.

In court documents, Ms Forshaw alleged that she was also told to get coffee for male pilots while attending a technical briefing.

Ms Forshaw claimed that two male pilots complained about International Women’s Day, saying they couldn’t wait for ‘this s***’ to be over in 2018.

She also claimed she shared an exchange with a captain who made a sexually explicit joke by asking her if she was “one of these “O” women on a flight in 2019.

Ms Forshaw asked what he meant before reportedly replying, “Women who are offended by everything.”

Ms Forshaw claimed that another captain appeared shocked to discover she was a female pilot on a separate flight to Rome in 2022.

She also approached human resources and filed five complaints in three months against three senior pilots.

Ms Forshaw claimed she was completing modules to become a captain when other pilots got in her way and allegedly acted “rude and disrespectful” to her.

Ms Forshaw (pictured in the middle) said in her claim that she was told she would do “a lot better” if she decided to dye her hair blonde and wear a push-up bra

She is demanding monetary compensation from Qantas and is also demanding that the airline increase its number of female pilots by introducing a quota.

A Qantas spokesperson said the airline took Ms Forshaw’s allegations “extremely seriously.”

“We took immediate action when Ms Forshaw lodged her complaint after failing a module required to be promoted to captain,” they said.

“The employees she accused of discrimination or misconduct were fired during the investigation. The allegations of discrimination were not substantiated.

“Mrs. Forshaw has recently made additional allegations about other historic incidents.

“We were not previously aware of these incidents and have asked Ms Forshaw for more information so that we can investigate.”

Qantas said 16 percent of its female pilots are captains — an increase of about 10 percent over the past five years.

About 10 female first officers have tried to become captains since 2019, with Ms. Forshaw bringing the only unsuccessful one, the airline said.