I was scolded at work for not wearing make-up – my boss says it’s unprofessional and my face needs to ‘sell the company’
A MUM-OF-TWO was left in tears at work after senior management slammed her for not wearing make-up upon her return from maternity leave.
She has a high-flying job, having recently been promoted to a position paying an eye-watering £94,000-a-year, and is now being pressured to “sell the company” with her face.
The mum shares a four-year-old and one-year-old with her husband, and returned to work earlier this year after maternity leave for her youngest.
She was “loving the promotion” until a grave conversation with a male senior manager took place.
The mum was told it “was very unprofessional of her to not wear make-up” at a recent conference and that her “face is part of selling the company”.
She took to Mumsnet to vent about the discriminatory conversation and seek advice from fellow mums.
“Before maternity leave, I liked to be very glamorous, wearing high heels and make-up,” she penned.
“However, since coming back from maternity leave, I prefer a nice flat shoe or a small heel, and minimal or no make-up.
“If I am at home doing video conferences I will rarely wear make-up.
“When travelling, I will wear a bit as lots of photos are taken.”
The issue arose after she had taken part in a training conference with some of the company’s global managers.
“It was a five day conference and on four of the days, I wore no make-up,” she said.
“On the second day, I was presenting at the conference and decided to wear some make-up.
“Now, I have just had a meeting with a senior manager who has told me it was very unprofessional of me to not wear make-up.
“[He said] that my face is part of selling the company and it needed to look professional.
“I feel absolutely awful and cried all through my lunch.”
What are protected characteristics?
It is against the law to discriminate against anyone because of protected characteristics.
Protected characteristics are personal attributes that are safeguarded from discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.
The nine protected characteristics are:
- age
- gender reassignment
- being married or in a civil partnership
- being pregnant or on maternity leave
- disability
- race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
- religion or belief
- sex
- sexual orientation
Employers are legally obligated to ensure that individuals are not discriminated against on the basis of any of these protected characteristics during recruitment, employment, training, promotion, dismissal or any other aspect of employment.
According to the mum, she hasn’t seen him since she was four months pregnant so “knows her look has changed a lot”.
Fellow parents on Mumsnet have dubbed her boss “a t**t” and urged her to get in touch with HR.
“I’d check with HR because it sounds to me that he just doesn’t like that you’re not the office eye candy anymore,” one said.
“If you looked neat, clean, and tidy, then you looked professional.
“Unless it’s company policy to wear make-up, in which case I hope he was wearing his.”
Official government advice recommends that employers “gender specific prescriptive requirements” when setting out dress codes.
Any requirement for a woman to wear make-up, skirts, have manicured nails, certain hairstyles or specific types of hosiery is likely to be unlawful.
This would count as sex discrimination because it treats female employees more unfavourably than male ones.