Kate Hawkesby: Who says you have to wear shoes to go shopping?

At what point is it discriminatory to ask someone to put shoes on? Photo / 123RF

COMMENT: I find myself sympathising with the plight of the barefoot woman in the shopping mall. Who among us hasn't run out of the house in a hurry to pick something up and realised they're in bare feet?

I wouldn't go out of my way to not wear shoes, nor would I want to make a habit of it, but I have at times raced into a dairy barefoot.
Not a shopping mall though.

An Auckland woman this week was left fuming after she was ejected from a mall for not wearing shoes. A security guard at Sylvia Park told her she needed to have shoes on, that she could not come into the mall barefoot.

The woman was taken aback. She felt people should have the option of wearing what they want on their feet, and that no one should be criticised or discriminated against for not wearing shoes. She said she's used to spending all summer barefoot.

So what's appropriate? Where's the line between shoes and no shoes? Is it like the famous tog... togs... undies? Is there an invisible cut-off point? Is it OK if you live in a beachside or rural town, but not in an inner-city mall?

The mall manager, in this case, said there was no firm policy requiring customers to wear footwear, but that for safety reasons on travelators and escalators, it was recommended.

She also made the point that some stores within the mall may have their own standard of dress requirements. Do you for example go into a clothes shop or a pharmacy, or a food court, barefoot?

And what about the policing of feet? At what point is it discriminatory to ask someone to put shoes on?

The risks of injury, such as a stubbed toe, a bit of glass in the foot, something being dropped on your foot, I would've thought are fairly high if you're walking round a big mall with no shoes on. And if you get your toe stuck in a travelator because you're barefoot is that your fault? Or the mall's?

We implore our children to wear shoes, for fear they stand on something sharp or dangerous, so then should we not also lead by example?

The issue has exercised those who say it's a Kiwi thing, we should be able to walk barefoot anywhere we like.

That's our Kiwi laidback laissez-faire approach - it's in our DNA to be casual.

Personally, I'd rather be in shoes, even jandals, than go barefoot in a mall. Standing in someone else's sticky icecream on a dirty mall floor doesn't appeal to me - but it doesn't mean I'd stop anyone else from going barefoot if that was their choice.

Either way, whatever the rules around bare feet in public, I doubt you'll ever see me in a mall barefoot, but I can't promise to be in shoes next time you see me at the dairy.