The Valencian company Servicios Logísticos de Catering has suspended 18 workers from employment and salary for 14 days for refusing to wear a cap just before starting a service at a wedding, which went normally. The UGT trade union organization considers that it is a sexist and disproportionate sanction and has appealed the measure through legal channels.
According to statements by one of the affected workers to the Valencian newspaper I raiseda few weeks ago they introduced changes to regular uniform that they always used to use, adding the headdress to it, aimed exclusively at female staff.
The company of catering He denies the alleged sexist treatment, and has assured EFE that it is a “modern, flexible and run by a woman” company. In addition, from the company they point out that it is not really a cap, but a diadema complement aesthetic that “reinforces hygiene”. In addition, they affirm that the workers refused to put it on, without talking, “20 minutes after the bride and groom entered.”
For UGT, whether it is called a cap or a diadem, it is clearly a complement classist and sexist, which also “violates the legislation that regulates equality plans”, since men have not been asked to wear anything on their heads. The hygiene argument is therefore called into question, since male employees with long hair only wear it up, without further accessories.
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The cap, as described by the historian Francisco de Sousa Congost in his work Introduction to the history of clothing in Spain, has been a fabric headdress adjusted to the head very present in clothing since medieval times, which has evolved over the centuries with different shapes and sizes. Initially employed by men and women, it became exclusive heritage of women to be finally linked to the uniform of the maids or domestic servants of the wealthy classes, as well as the nurses, as a mere adornment.
The union considers that the sanction, in any case, is disproportionate and that negotiation and dialogue should have been prioritized before reaching an agreement between the parties.
Introduction to the history of clothing in Spain: 231 (Fundamentals)
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The news
18 workers are suspended from employment and salary for refusing to wear a cap: “it is a symbol of female degradation”
was originally published in
Direct to the Palate
by Liliana Fuchs.