The owner of a Turkish restaurant and takeaway called Mazi in Croydon, South London, Ridvan Das, put a hand-written advertisement in his window reading ‘Part Time Staff Required (Female)’ for a dishwashing role.
In an attempt to try and explain himself, the 24-year-old said: ‘The reason was we needed to hire a dishwasher, and women are obviously better at cleaning than men – that’s what I think anyway.
‘I know from my mum that women are better at cleaning and I know that my girlfriend has to pick up around the house. I’m not taking any chances when it comes to the food and cleanliness.’
He went on to say that when there were roles involving cleaning, he preferred women and in his restaurant, he said: ’The male will help the women pull the fridges around. There is a woman at the head of this team. She will check that everything is spotless and, if not, they start again.’
When asked whether he was aware of UK discrimination laws, he said: ’It’s not discrimination; we have 14 people who work here and there are a few more men than women.’
The Government’s website is clear on discrimination both during recruitment and employment stating: ‘It is against the law to treat someone less favourably than someone else because of a personal characteristic such as religion, gender or age. Discrimination can include not hiring someone, selecting a particular person for redundancy or paying someone less than another worker without good reason.’
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.