The Ghanaian Immigration Service (GIS) has barred candidates with bleached skinned and stretch marks from taking part in a major employee recruitment, stating that candidates with either could potentially bleed during strenuous activity, reports BBC Africa.

The motion also disqualifies people with dread locks, tattoos, and bowed legs from participating.

"The kind of work we do, it's strenuous and the training is such that if you have bleached skin or surgical marks on your body during training exercises, you may incur some bleedings," said Superintendent Michael Amoako-Attah, to BBC Pidgin.

Many on social media have criticized the decision, calling it arbitrary and sexist—though its worth noting that both men and women bleach and get stretch marks—and overtly discriminatory.

The specific rule about stretch marks has garnered the most responses so far.

The GIS has faced widespread backlash recently, after announcing that it would take only 500 of the 84,000 people who applied, after they had already paid for the application.