Photo: Norwegian
Women must wear make-up and high heels. Men, on the other hand, are forbidden from wearing make-up. The rules for Norwegian cabin crew may breach Norwegian equality law.
The regulations are dated 1 April 2019 and also cover Norwegian's Swedish cabin crew, writes Norwegian newspaper VG.
”Make-up requirements and requirements for high-heeled shoes that apply exclusively to women are differential treatment based on sex. This can contravene the law. They concern appearance-based requirements for women in order to do a job,” writes State Secretary Frida Blomgren (Left Party) at the Ministry of Culture and Equality in Norway.
According to Norwegian's rules, female staff must wear shoes with heels at least two centimetres high. If they deviate from this, they must be able to present a medical certificate. The certificate must be updated every six months, and female staff must always carry a copy of it, according to VG. Women should also wear make-up – but it should look natural.
Men on the other hand, are only allowed to use make-up to cover bruises or blemishes. They are not allowed to have long nails, wear nail polish, or have earrings. Hair must not be longer than the edge of the shirt collar.
Norwegian doesn't see any major problem with the rules.
”It is an update to existing uniform rules, it is just an adjustment to clarify for our employees,” says Charlotte Holmbergh Jacobsson, communications manager at Norwegian, to TT.
She maintains that one cannot talk about this being discrimination. She also points out that this type of uniform policy is common among airlines.
”There's nothing being experienced as a problem internally,” she says.
At SAS, female employees are required to wear shoes with heels between two and seven centimetres high. According to VG, however, there are no requirements for makeup, nor any prohibition on men wearing makeup.
The union Parat, which organises cabin crew in Norway, has told VG that they wish to have a dialogue with Norwegian employees before they make any statements about the rules.
Source: TT
