Women working in restaurants should not be required to wear high heels: BC Green Party

The B.C. Green Party wants to put an end to the practice of female restaurant staff being forced to wear high heels on the job.

Many restaurants and bars in the province — and around the world — require female servers and hosts to wear high heels, despite how uncomfortable and painful they can be during an eight- or nine-hour shift.

Simran Gill says she worked at a well-known Vancouver restaurant chain in Coal Harbour for only four months because she couldn’t take the pain of wearing heels.

“My feet were in so much pain from the attire I had to wear, that I literally could not take the job. The money just wasn’t worth it,” Gill told Global News.

She says the dress code was strict: females had to wear stiletto heels — no wedges and no booties — and a short, tight, fitted dress.

Because of that, her feet would often be covered in blood and blisters by the end of a shift. At the end of her first shift, she literally had to pour blood out of her shoe, she said.

“I did ballet for eight years… being on pointe did not do that to my feet as much as heels did.”

She says the issue was so ingrained in company culture that the restaurant provided band-aids that matched the female servers’ dresses.

That is something the Green Party is hoping to change.

“I couldn’t believe that in British Columbia in 2017, there are restaurants and bars that require women to wear high heels,” Green Party leader Andrew Weaver told Global News. “It’s not safe because you’re walking around in a greasy-floored kitchen. It’s not healthy because you’re standing up for nine hours putting pressure on your back in funny ways as well as your feet.”

Weaver is tabling a private member’s bill at the legislature that would ban employees from requiring women to wear heels at work. The BC NDP party has pledged to support the motion, but the Liberals say the bill isn’t necessary.

Despite the Liberals’ stance, Weaver says he’s never seen so much support for a motion.

“We have received thousands of correspondences on Facebook, social media. One hundred per cent of the comments, are in support. I’ve never seen any issue like that. We’ve debated puppies in the legislature, and we didn’t even get 100 per cent support on that.”

The B.C. Restaurant and Food Service Association also welcomes the idea.

“It’s not taking away the option to wear high heels, but it’s taking away the option to make it mandatory,” Ian Tostensen, president of the association, told Global News.

Weaver says the bill would be easy to implement.

Bond’s office said it agreed with “the intention” of Weaver’s bill and is currently undertaking a review.

For now, it says it’s unacceptable for anyone to face discrimination or harassment at work and people can contact the Human Rights Tribunal with their complaints.

-With files from Jennifer Palma