His views on women in aviation were widely viewed as sexist. He once described stewardesses over 30 as "old boilers" and claimed that women were unsuitable to be pilots because of their menstrual cycles. In 1978, Deborah Wardley took the company to the Victorian Equal Opportunity Board for discrimination. Wardley was a charter pilot who claimed that she was better qualified to be hired than other male pilots that had been hired. Ansett claimed that they hadn't discriminated against her because she was a woman but because she had the potential to fall pregnant. On 29 June 1979, the Equal Opportunity Board ruled in favour of Wardley and directed that Ansett Airlines should recruit her at the next intake. Ansett delayed its training intake and appealed to the Supreme Court of Victoria but the appeal was dismissed. Ansett appealed the Supreme Court decision to the High Court of Australia in October 1979, but employed Wardley pending the outcome of the case. The High Court dismissed Ansett's appeal in March 1980.