Beauty schools: boys must no longer go away

In 2013, I informed the French ministry of Education that some beauty schools dismissed male applicants and told them to apply elsewhere.

Male and female students could not physically practice each other according to some schools such as Françoise Morice, Pigier Creation, Marcel Lamy located in Paris and Thalgo located in Saint Maur des Fossés.

An unequal access to beauty trainings results from that situation whereas boys are highly under-represented in the beauty and hairdresser education: 95 % girls for 5 % boys.

Refusing to train them whereas a qualification is required to work as a beautician raised a matter (act n°96-603 of 5^th July 1996 developing and promoting trade and crafts).

When getting this information, the ministry of Education did not take any action.

However, I informed the Rights Defender (Défenseur des Droits) too. An investigation followed and these schools were inquired.

They put forth that they did not have separated locker rooms and the suitable organization for. One of them deemed that it would have been consequently constrained to set up a class only for boys whereas their number is very limited.

They added (extracts):

“We cannot mix (sic) male and female students in training salons“ (Pigier Creation).

“The female trainees would have to accept a man among them. He would have to carry out beauty cares on their body including the bikini line and armpits depilations. They would be half naked in front of him” (Thalgo).

Likewise, the website of Françoise Morice school was only designed for a female public.

The Rights Defender noticed that the arguments based on the locker rooms are similar to what the Halde (High Authority for the Fight against Discrimination and for Equality) has already heard when some higher schools dismissed girls from their boarding school.

The Halde has considered that the rooms arrangement did not aim for a rightful purpose since it results from the way it was structured and is out of date. Moreover, no initiative was really taken in the meantime to change the situation.

The Rights Defender did agree that the safety and intimacy of minors people are undeniably legitimate purposes but pointed out in the same time that dismissing boys for that reason appears to be an excessive action.

Disallowing men in other trainings such as midwife was also questioned in the 80's. The Attorney General of the Court of Justice of the European Communities had regarded this as a groundless exclusion since pregnant women can accept or refuse them anyhow and the number of male midwifes will probably remain very limited ⁽¹⁾.

Other options would be worth considering in order to provide equal opportunities in training, as grouping and training people of the same gender, or getting into the same group male and female people willing to work together.

Some other schools have been succeeding in teaching these disciplines for both girls and boys and overcoming the misgivings that may result from (Elysées Marbeuf in Paris, Ema in Nancy, Marge Verlair in Toulouse…).

The Rights Defender concluded that disallowing male people in beauty and cosmetology trainings is a discrimination.

Schools refusing boys were required to cease any selection based on the gender.