Mosque's ban on female fun-runners breached law, says barrister

"Dr Anna Loufti, a barrister specialising in equality and human rights law, said the mosque was arguably in breach of the Equality Act, which requires "discriminatory provisions of this nature to be justified as proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Dr Loufti said that by preventing women and girls over the age of 12 from taking part in the event, this highlights how some mosques are taking advantage of the religious freedoms allowed in the UK to enforce restrictions on women that are not permitted under national law."

"Lui Asquith, an equalities lawyer at Russell-Cooke, said: "If this were a single race including boys, girls and men all running together, it's hard to see how the charity could use the single-sex exemption under the Equality Act." The legislation prohibits discrimination based on protected characteristics, except in specific lawful cases like the "sporting exemption." This exemption permits sports organisations to legally separate participants by sex when a sport is "affected by gender," or when physical differences between sexes could unfairly impact competition."

A London mosque barred women and girls over the age of 12 from participating in a charity fun run while promoting the event as family-friendly and open to men and boys of all ages. The mosque said everyone could attend the park to cheer, but participants over 12 female were excluded. The decision drew criticism from Baroness Gohir OBE, Aisha Ali-Khan and others who labelled the policy sexist. Barrister Dr Anna Loufti argued the exclusion may breach the Equality Act and suggested some mosques use religious freedoms to impose unlawful restrictions on women. Equalities lawyer Lui Asquith questioned the applicability of the single-sex and sporting exemptions.

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