18 April 2018
The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination, including those who want to receive goods or services from a business. The law says you can't treat people differently on the grounds of 'protected characteristics' which include:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender
- Sexual orientation
- Religion
- Race
So, for example, if a barbershop refuses to cut a woman's hair simply because she is a woman, this is direct discrimination on the grounds of gender. As well as being unlawful under the Equalities Act, there is a high risk of legal claims for damages and the consequent loss of reputation.
An NHBF member says: "Don't make the mistake of thinking this could never happen to you! A lady rang to ask if we could do a haircut for her, but as we're a barbershop we initially said no. We simply didn't know that by not providing this service we were risking accusations of discrimination. Once we realised, we did everything possible that put things right - but not before we got a lot of negative comment on social media."
Of course, if a woman is asking for a service, such as long hair up, which the barbershop simply doesn't provide, then refusing to offer it to a female client is not direct discrimination.
Hilary Hall, NHBF chief executive added: "Nowadays, notions of gender are increasingly fluid - so what's a male haircut and what's a female haircut? Many barbershops have embraced equality because treating everyone equally can only be a good thing for your business."