- Conference
- 2017 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 7 October 2016
- Decision
- Carried
This conference is pleased to know that the House of Commons is holding an inquiry into high heels and workplace dress codes, following a petition asking for the law to be changed attracted almost 150,000 signatures.
MPs on the Petitions and Women and Equalities Committees have already heard evidence from the person who started the petition, Nicola Thorpe, after she was sent home from work for refusing to wear high heels. As an agency worker, she was hired to do reception work for a company on behalf of PwC but when she turned up on her first day she was told that she had to wear a uniform consisting of a dress and high heels. She was given the dress but told that she had to go out and buy a pair of heels. If she refused, “there would be someone else who would be quite happy to take over the role”. She refused and was sent home without pay.
The aim of the inquiry is to gain a clear understanding of what the current law says about this issue and how it is affecting people in the UK. It is unlikely that the inquiry will result in a change in the law as the Equality Act already provides some protection against unlawful sex discrimination. Already Fawcett Society, Stonewall, ACAS and the TUC have contributed evidence.
The government has responded to the petition and to the inquiry saying..
“Company dress codes must be reasonable and must make equivalent requirements for men and women. This is the law and employers must abide by it.
This Government is taking action to remove the barriers to equality for women at work, which is why we are tackling the gender pay gap, increasing the number of women on boards, increasing support for childcare costs and ensuring employers are aware of their obligations to pregnant women.
Employers are entitled to set dress codes for their workforce but the law is clear that these dress codes must be reasonable. That includes any differences between the nature of rules for male and female employees, otherwise the company may be breaking the law. Employers should not be discriminating against women in what they require them to wear.
The Government takes this issue very seriously and will continue to work hard to ensure women are not discriminated in the workplace by outdated attitudes and practices”.
In order to assist the government continue this work, this conference instructs the national women’s committee to:
1) Contribute to the inquiry, giving examples and where possible, the testimony of our women members.
2) Actively encourage all our women members who are obliged to wear employer imposed uniforms to submit their experiences and uniform mishaps and discrimination experiences to the inquiry.
3) Encourage women activists to examine their own employers’ dress codes to identify ‘outdated attitudes and practices’ which are potentially sex discrimination and raise these issues within their branches and their collective bargaining structures.