How recruiting a barmaid or paper boy could land you in hot water

Barmaids, handymen and paperboys could soon be a thing of the past, with gender specific job titles to be quashed by The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

The Sunday Mail reports that the EHRC has warned that business will be breaking the law if they try to hire someone based on their sex, age or nationality.

The new guidelines were published by the public body in response to more than 100 complaints about supposedly discriminatory adverts.

The commission specified that there were 'very limited circumstances' in which certain groups may be excluded, such as a leisure centre advertising women-only swimming to accommodate Muslim woman who may not wish to swim with men.