The Commission on Gender Equality said it was deeply concerned about the dismissal of five women, apparently because they were ugly. The five were
apparently offered jobs as guides and receptionists at a stall run by Huawei Technology, a visiting Chinese company which is exhibiting at Africa Telecom '98 at the National Recreation and Exhibition Centre.
Commission head Colleen Lowe-Morna said the incident highlighted grossly unfair and unconstitutional discrimination which women faced because of their physical attributes.
"We must begin to ask to
what extent superficial criteria like beauty or ugliness affect the chances of women securing employment in vocations like air-hostessing, public relations, secretarial services or marketing," she said.
Ms Maureen Malesela, one of the so-called ugly women, described the incidents which led to her dismissal.
"I saw the ad in the newspaper and phoned in. We were later interviewed by Patti Chang,
who was satisfied with our ability and we signed contracts.
"When we went for the training we were told, via Patti, that we were too ugly. A representative from the company gave us R50 and asked us
to leave. It was very degrading," she said.
The Gender Commission said the issue had been referred to the Department of Labour. It urged officials to act as soon as possible to ensure Huawei
Technology was held responsible for its actions.
A spokeswoman for Huawei said the problem arose over a misunderstanding with the travel agency which had recruited the women.
She said their stall was too small for five workers.
"We asked the agency to recruit five women from which we would choose three. No one said the women were ugly," she said. -- Sapa
