The Court of Justice of the European Union has concluded that the Italian police discriminated on the basis of gender during recruitment after rejecting a woman candidate.

Around 15 percent of the Italian police corps are women, yet long-standing traditions still dictate aesthetics: tattoos must be covered by clothing, while ceremonial uniforms require women to wear skirts.

That rule blocked a female applicant from progressing in the selection process because a small flower tattoo on her upper calf would have been visible when wearing the police dress uniform.

The applicant challenged the police rulebook in court. On Thursday (3 September), the EU’s advocate general in Luxembourg issued an opinion siding with her.

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“Ms HG would not have been excluded from the selection procedure on the sole ground that she has a tattoo on her calf had she been a man,” said EU court advocate general Tamara Ćapeta in her opinion.

Ćapeta stressed that the combination of the two rules is discriminatory, noting that in several member states — including Ireland, Spain, Poland and Romania — trousers are the standard uniform for all, with skirts optional in specific circumstances.

EU law allows distinctions based on sex only when necessary to meet a genuine occupational requirement; a gender-specific uniform does not appear to meet that threshold.

“Today, women have proven themselves to be, in every respect, quite capable of performing the same duties as men,” said Felice Romano, secretary general of SIULP, Italy’s largest and oldest police union.

Romano called the case “a cultural absurdity, and a human rights abuse,” telling EUobserver he wanted the mentality around tattoos updated “in line with today’s society,” noting that more than one-in-10 Italians have tattoos.

Thursday’s opinion also highlighted efforts by some member states to address the shortage of women in heavily male-dominated services by loosening appearance rules to encourage female recruitment.

For example, Germany’s armed forces have relaxed appearance rules for female soldiers on issues like hairstyles and jewellery to boost female participation.

The court’s final ruling in the case will be issued after the advocate general’s opinion is considered.