VICTORIA B.C. - Last week on International Women’s Day Andrew Weaver tabled a bill that would ensure employers do not set varying footwear requirements for their employees based on gender, gender expression or gender identity.

Today, Weaver, leader of the B.C. Green Party, welcomed the news that the government will support his bill to end the practice of gender-specific footwear requirements by B.C. employers.

“I am glad the Premier and the B.C. NDP have taken note of this issue and recognize the unfairness of forcing female employees to wear high heels, especially since it puts their health and safety at risk. In 2017, the people of B.C. should be free from this kind of this gender-based discrimination.

“I hope the government moves quickly to end this archaic practice. This issue also underscores the need to reinstate the British Columbia Human Rights Commission, removed by the B.C. Liberal government in 2002. The Commission would ensure that there is a nonpartisan, impartial and objective body to oversee human rights law in B.C. and would have provided a means of protecting workers from this kind of discrimination, as it has done in Ontario.”

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Media contact

B.C. Green Party

Jillian Oliver, Press Secretary

+1 778-650-0597 | jillian.oliver@bcgreens.ca