Male staff are now permitted to wear makeup and have long hair at Qantas, an Australian airline, as it has loosened its gender-based uniform regulations.

Female employees won’t have to wear cosmetics and high heels while on the job thanks to the new style guidelines.

An Australian trade union requested that Qantas update its “uniform policy into the 21st Century” last year.

Following the easing of regulations by competitor carriers, Virgin Atlantic introduced gender-neutral uniforms.

Both men and women will be allowed to wear the same types of jewelry, including big watches, in addition to being able to wear flat shoes.

The new regulations also allow all staff, including flight attendants and pilots, to have long hair as long as it is pulled back or up in a bun.

In a statement on Friday, Qantas noted that “fashions change, and so have our style guidelines over the years.”

It said, “We’re proud of our diversity and updating our policies.

The new guidelines also apply to Jetstar, a low-cost airline owned by Qantas.

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The Australian Services Union (ASU), which had pushed Qantas to alter its uniform policy, claimed the decision was a “big win for workers.” Imogen Sturni.

“Some of the dress code requirements were bordering on ridiculous, such as makeup style guides and a requirement for women to wear smaller watches than men,” Ms. Sturni told the BBC.

The new policy, however, still requires Qantas employees to cover up tattoos. The regulations also outline the pairings of uniform pieces, such as the requirement that skirts be worn with stockings or tights.

Following the easing of certain other airlines’ uniform policies, Qantas made its statement.

Virgin Atlantic, a UK-based airline, announced in September that it will adopt a “fluid approach” to uniforms, allowing employees “no matter their gender” to choose what they wore to work.

The airline, which has come under fire for its treatment of LGBT people, then claimed that the policy did not apply to the personnel on the England football team’s flight to the World Cup in Qatar.

Virgin announced at the time that it had implemented the policy in the UK, US, and Israel because those countries “allow more self-expression for non-binary identities.”

A restriction on visible tattoos for employees was lifted by Air New Zealand in 2019 to “enable employees to express their individuality and cultural heritage.”

To commemorate their ancestry and heritage, several New Zealanders with Maori ancestry have tattoos.