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A social worker sacked for posing for a men's magazine was unfairly treated, says Hilary Searing.

The recent case of a social worker sacked from her job in a children's residential home after her semi-nude photographs appeared in a men's magazine raises important questions about whether social services departments have a right to impose their own "moral" standards of behaviour on the private lives of social workers.

An employment tribunal ruled that the social worker was not unfairly dismissed and accepted the council's contention that this constituted a conflict between her private life and her professional and public duties. The social services director claimed the social worker's ability to instill positive models of sexuality and self-respect in young people was compromised.

The implication of this judgement is that a female employee of social services may lose her right to express her personal sexuality. Males do not experience the same loss of freedom. How many men have been disciplined for "laddish" behaviour or for visiting "adult" clubs? There are double standards here.

The council claimed that captions on the social worker's pictures conveyed indecency incompatible with her job. In fact, most people today do not object to a certain degree of explicitness in sexual matters and would probably not consider the pictures indecent but merely harmless fun.

However, the three-man tribunal panel judged her behaviour as having a negative impact on her ability to do her job. Their views are based on prudish, narrow-minded attitudes that discriminate against women and are out of touch with the real world.

All teenage girls face difficult and complex issues concerning their sexuality. Female social workers who are trying to help vulnerable young women develop into mature women may find it easier to understand their problems if they have explored and worked through issues about their own sexuality. Social workers who are at ease with their sexuality tend to be more relaxed about having open and frank discussions with young women in their care. I argue that the ability of the sacked social worker to work with girls would not have been compromised.

Illicit sexual relationships occasionally develop between colleagues within social services, even at senior levels. Most departments are tolerant of such liaisons. When the private lives of senior managers becomes the subject of office gossip they are unlikely to lose their jobs. However, when a female social worker has an unconventional sexual life outside the workplace and this becomes the subject of workplace gossip, she may be sacked. This is grossly unfair.

It is important that all social workers challenge this judgement and insist on the freedom to express their sexuality, as long as their behaviour is within the law and does not abuse professional relationships with clients.

Hilary Searing is a retired social worker.