Compulsory makeup and high heels in the workplace - discriminatory?

[Qally]

Since there are a lot of lawyers here - a friend is having a nightmare time in her new job. She's professionally and smartly turned out (suit, polished shoes, well-cut hair, simple earrings), but doesn't wear makeup on a daily basis and prefers to wear flat shoes. Her (female) boss rather aggressively told her that that wasn't acceptable; she needed to wear heels to "give her stature" and to wear makeup at all times.

My friend is a company librarian, not a receptionist or flight attendant - and this is surely discriminatory, as it isn't a demand they could ever make of a man. What is her legal position? It does seem that this is part of a general pattern of being undermined by her new boss. She's always had excellent relationships with previous employers and is rather bemused by the current situation.

Can't see any objective justification for a requirement to wear high heels or make up, so I would say yes that sounds like sex discrimination. Is there a written dress code where your friend works and what does it say?

its the ally McBeal et al phenomena female solicitors/barristers are expected to look like pnuematic dolly birds in come-get-me-shoes

seriously though, yes of course it is important to look composed/groomed/professional but that is not necessarily heels and slap.

im sure she got her legal practice cert and pqe on brains and not clinique (lol I hope)

her female boss sounds insecure to be so so image obsessed

sm the friend is a company librarian..

agree about female boss!

point is you don't need to wear come-get-me-shoes and slap to be taken seriously. complain but not to that individual.

It sounds completely out of order. Have not come across this in many years of working for City law firms (although once when I wasn't wearing any make-up the head of my department sneered at me "Going for the no-make-up-pity-me look are we?" But it was a truth universally acknowledged that he was a bastard.)

I know quite a few librarians in law firms and some do wear suits/make up/heels whilst some do not. As she isn't going to have client contact, the requirement seems rather OTT.

Does she actually work in a law firm? Or am I missing something?! I took the 'there are a lot of lawyers here' to mean the OP was after some legal advice on her friend's position.
Maybe I'm wrong, and for dress code purposes shouldn't make any difference anyway but just wondered if I am missing something..

I think the key word is 'undermined' - her boss is doing whatever she can to say 'me boss, you underling'.

I always wore flat shoes for work and didn't always bother with make-up. My colleagues would say that a bit of make-up would give me colour but NO boss of mine would ever have dared to make a comment like that - totally unprofessional and unnecessary to comment on another's appearance. (It's not like its BO!)

(I was a secretary.)

It actually wasn't just a comment - it was an instruction, rather nastily phrased.

Flowerybeanbag, you took my meaning absolutely correctly. The written dress code just says professional attire - gender neutral. I would regard a suit and smart flats as entirely appropriate in that context; she's a librarian, not a beauty queen!

Absolute nonsense, her boss can't make that sort of demand. Her boss has self image issues that she has no business passing on to her staff!!

It is a very odd dress code that would specify heels and slap. If it is not official, then even less reasonable to specify that as a requirement of being professionally dressed.

BTW, librarians in my law firm used to be advised not to wear sandals in case those heavy law books fell on their feet!

i would think requiring heels, which can be painful for some people and perhaps even have a negative impact on their health if they are on their feet a lot, would be discriminatory.

but i think i'd approach HR about it.

I would be tempted in her position to say that she would be happy to wear heels and makeup every day as long as everyone in the office did including the male contingent

My brother works in a suited and booted kind of place and remarks every summer how unfair it is that the women can wear vest tops and sandals or even flip flops (the smart leather type but still) when that would be completely unacceptable for a man, which is true I suppose.

Perhaps at her next review she could bring it up in the presence of another boss - that might shame the original boss into realising quite how ridiculous she sounds!

I think it sounds quite horrific actually, in her position I would be outraged, and I don't think I could have resisted saying something there and then - I regard myself as a professional, not a glamour model, whichever job I've had (I worked in the film industry before becoming a nanny, and I faced clients. Admittedly, we were all a bit more laissez-faire when it came to appropriate office attire but at least I felt that people recognised me as an individual with my own abilities, rather than a piece of meat).

If your friend is neat, approriately dressed - which is sounds as though she is - then who in the world has the right to tell her to wear make up!? For all her boss knows she may have hideously sensitive skin and problems with her arches!

I would definitely say something to HR..... I can't imagine a male boss instructing his employees that they MUST wear wax or gel in their hair.

Grrrrrr!