Study finds sexist dress codes rife in Britain
Print Edition
YOU must wear shoes with heels 5-10 centimeters high at all times when you are at work. You must wear make-up and regularly re-apply it. You must wear tights, but not opaque ones.
Those were some of the rules in a dress code imposed by a British recruitment agency on its female workers before one of them, Nicola Thorp, refused to wear high heels and was sent home without pay.
After Thorp, 27, started a petition against compulsory high heels on parliament’s website that garnered 152,420 signatures, her rebellion became a talking point and led to an inquiry by lawmakers into workplace dress codes in Britain. They reported yesterday that sexist dress codes were rife in some industries and women were routinely being forced to wear high heels in jobs where they were on their feet all day and their shoes were causing them pain and health problems.
“This may have started over a pair of high heels, but what it has revealed about discrimination in the UK workplace is vital,” said Thorp, commenting on the report.
Under Britain’s equality law, company dress codes must make equivalent requirements for women and men, but the lawmakers said breaches of the law were widespread in sectors including hotels, travel, temporary work agencies, hospitality and retail. The report said women facing discriminatory dress codes tended to be young.
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