Eliminating discrimination related to clothing at the workplace

Hello again!

You can be neat and tidy when it comes to personal hygiene and clothing because you like the way you look or because it’s your choice but a different thing is being discriminated against just because your employer does not like how you look (may be your beard, your head covering or your conservative outfits).

One of the biggest prides of Canada is the diversity of its population. Canada is going the extra mile in order to establish a discrimination-free environment towards globally inclusive workplaces for its citizens. The Canadian Human Resource Management defines discrimination as “A showing of partiality or prejudice in treatment; specific action or policies directed against the welfare of minority groups.” (Schwind et al. 2016, p. 163)

In this post we will go through two of the most common types of discrimination that people in Canada are still facing today in their workplaces due to dress codes policies, even though the Ontario Human Rights Commission have spoken clearly against these two issues.

The first form of discrimination happens when a company has clothing and grooming requirements for staff that are in line with their corporate brand or meet their corporate goals but has a discriminatory effect on their staff. Companies are allowed to have dressing codes but they need to ensure that these codes do not have a discriminatory impact based on religious beliefs due to jewelry restrictions, clean shave, hair style or head-covering requirements.

This discrimination has one exception that makes sense and it is the following, if clothing or gear with a healthy or safety rationale may constitute a bona fide requirement, we can read an example of this situation in the Ontario Human Rights Commission website and if you have additional doubts about religion and human rights in Ontario you can consult the Religious rights (Fact Sheet).

The second kind of discrimination happens when a company establishes a dress code that sexualizes or subjects women to different standards; for example many restaurants ask their waitresses to wear short skirts and revealing tops and also excludes pregnant women from night shifts or reduce their working hours. Additionally, there is one troubling consideration: sometimes people will not stand for what is right if they consider that the waitress’ dress is inappropriate and if women do not stand together to fight this issue, it is very complicated to face it and that is extremely disturbing, the following social experiment can show us two scenarios and completely different attitudes towards the two waitresses enduring the same sexual harassment examples (ScimmiaMonyet, 2010):

In my opinion every single sort of discrimination is wrong. It is impossible, not to say stupid, to measure the performance of someone’s job based on their attire, race, religion, socio-economic status, sexual orientation or gender. Human beings should be measured on how they add value to society and how they interact with other people, not on the basis of their race, ethnic background, religion, skin colour, sexual orientation, gender, etc. These traits of identity are what make us unique as human beings and therefore we should embrace our differences to be able to grow as a prosperous society.

It is completely unacceptable to tolerate, promote or support dress codes that attempt or discriminate against women or objectify them as well, as it is completely wrong to ask a Sikh person to remove his head covering or to shave his beard to provide a service unless it’s a bona fide requirement.

Have you ever experienced another kind of discrimination because of your appearance that I did not mention on this entry? Tell me about your opinion or personal experience about this issue, I will gladly read your comments and reply. Remember to vote in our poll at the left section of the blog.

PS: REMEMBER THAT DISCRIMINATION VIOLATES THE HUMAN RIGHTS AND I ENCOURAGE YOU TO SPEAK UP

REFERENCES

Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse. (2014, May 6). What is
        discrimination-[Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ChVL6Ji4Ns

OHRC. (n.d.). Religious rights (Fact sheet). Retrieved from http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/religious-rights-fact-sheet

OHRC. (n.d.). 10. Specific Cases. Retrieved from http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/policy-preventing-discrimination-based-creed/10-specific-cases

Schwind, H., Uggerslev, K., Wagar, T., Fassina, N., & Bulmash, J. (2016). Canadian human resource management (11th ed.). McGrawHill Education (p. 163).

ScimmiaMonyet. (2010, June 6). 'What Would You Do?': Would You Stop Sexual Harassment at Diner?.
        [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euXzkLZQPRY