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A Croydon restaurant owner who advertised specifically for female part-time staff has said he did so because "woman are obviously better at cleaning than men".

A job advert has appeared on the website Indeed which says that help is wanted at Mazi, a Mediterranean restaurant and takeaway on London Road.

With the advert is a picture of a sign in one of the restaurant's windows which says "part time staff required (female)".

Ridvan Das, the restaurant's owner and manager, says the rationale behind the controversial advert was simple.

'Mother knows best'

He told the Croydon Advertiser: "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."

Mr Das is insistent that the advert was not sexist, and emphasised that he does hire men and women for jobs at the restaurant - but when it comes to roles involving cleaning he is insistent they are filled by women.

He said: "That’s just how I feel; I’m messy myself and a lot of the males I know are messy themselves and their wives, girlfriends, mum or auntie will keep them neat."

Mr Das says there was actually only one job going and that he has already filled it.

When asked whether he was aware of UK discrimination laws and whether he would have considered a man for the role, he added: "We hire as long as they have had this type of job before and as long as they have experience in the trade.

"It’s not discrimination; we have 14 people who work here and it’s pretty much equal numbers. There’s a few more men than women."

He explained that both men and women wait on tables.

Could he have a point?

When pressed further on his view that women are better at cleaning, he pointed to the fact that the restaurant has the highest possible food hygiene rating.

After a Food Standards Agency inspection on May 24 the restaurant was given a rating of five out of five.

Mr Das, 24, who lives on London Road, said: "I’m not taking any chances when it comes to the food and cleanliness of the restaurant.

"I have four people who work only to keep the restaurant clean; three female and one male. The male will help the women pull the fridges around.

"There is a woman at the head of this team and she will come and check everything is spotless and, if not, they start again."

What does the law say?

The law in the United Kingdom is quite clear on discrimination both during recruitment and employment.

The Government's website says: "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.

"You can discriminate against someone even if you don’t intend to. For example, you can discriminate indirectly by offering working conditions or rules that disadvantage one group of people more than another."

Upstairs downstairs

The office and kitchen are situated downstairs at Mazi, while the diners eat upstairs. Food is brought upstairs through a food lift.

Owner Mr Das claimed that when he took the restaurant on all the men worked upstairs and all the women downstairs.

He said: "We took over the restaurant about six months ago, and it was like that [all men upstairs and all women downstairs] so we kept it like that."