Austria’s Constitutional Court struck down the military’s strict short-hair requirement for male soldiers in Vienna on Thursday. The policy must be scrapped and replaced with a grooming code that complies with constitutional standards for both men and women. The judges concluded the contested provisions conflicted with equality protections and interfered with personal rights.
The decision ends a longstanding mandate that male professional soldiers and conscripts keep their hair short enough not to touch the collar. The case reached the court after a soldier challenged the policy following an order that he pay a €2,200 fine for wearing his hair in a ponytail, according to BTA. The court determined that the stricter standards for men could not be justified and had to be removed as inconsistent with the principle of equal treatment.
Lower risk
Austria's Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner defended the short-hair rule by pointing to hygiene considerations and asserting that soldiers with short hair face a lower risk of injury. The judges rejected those justifications because female soldiers are permitted to wear their hair long if it is tied back or secured with hairpins, including in braids and updos. The court emphasized equal standards must apply across the force regardless of sex, according to Danmarks Radio.
Austria's Defence Ministry is now required to prepare a new, gender-neutral framework for military hairstyles that can withstand legal scrutiny.