Women's Dress Code

At work, we have a basic dress code on Monday thru Thursday which is known as "business casual." This is actually a fairly common dress code across the business world which means, in a nutshell, "don't wear jeans." Why? I really haven't figured that out, to be honest. I think, to an extent, the idea is that if you dress nice, you feel better, and you work harder. I believe this is somewhat akin to the reason the Spirit Committee exists.

That being beside the point, when you look at what people actually wear for this dress code, you might notice a bit of a gulf between the sexes. If you look at the male side of the coin, you see shirts and trousers. That's it. Sure, there is some variation on the types of shirts, but they all have collars (it's in the rules: shirts with collars) and sleeves (whether they be short or long), and the trousers are all about the same except for color. Shoes are pretty similar as well, though some of us toe the line and wear sneakers instead of dress shoes (yeah, way to stick it to the man!), but the shoes cover the entire foot front to back. With men's clothing, you see the head, the arms (sometimes), and hands. Nothing else.

Women on the other represent exactly how much you can get away with in a dress code. Everything is optional. Sleeves? Optional. Collar? Optional. Toed shoes? Optional. Trousers? Optional. Few, if any, dress with the level of coverage that men do. Don't hit with with "proper" dress, because what I'm speaking of is real life, not concept. These are things I've seen.

What inspired this writing was when I went to the break room and saw a woman in there wearing capri pants (but not made of denim) and a sleeveless (but not strappy) shirt with the converse style shoe and no socks. She might as well have been going to the beach. Most of the shoes I see women wear are slip on, so bare feet are a common sight around desks, and when they wear skirts, they rarely wear stockings, so you get an eyeful of leg as well.

Exactly what is the difference between skirts and shorts? Someone enlighten me. I mean from a purely scientific, fundamental perspective. They both involve coverage only down to about mid thigh, but it seems that skirts are fine for dressy stuff where shorts, despite the fact that they provide more coverage and come in formal styles and fabrics, seem to be inappropriate. It's my opinion that if skirts are allowable, shorts should be allowed as well. Yet, social stigmas prevent it. Anyway.

Moving to the upper half, the shirt (oh, I'm sorry; blouse) side of things is just as varied. Most women's shirts are cut fairly low so you get at least the upper portion of their chest if not a little cleavage. If I wore a shirt like that, I'd be sent home (and probably asked to shave). In men's shirts, you don't button the top button without a tie, and the only time you leave three buttons undone is on disco night, but that's about where most women's shirts seem to end is about three buttons down.

I know this comes off as a rant, but it seems that even though women have pushed for equal rights in all things, the clothing is a wide gulf of inequality. I want to wear the male equivalents of what women are wearing. That would mean shorts and a range of shirts without collars (I have some that are not t-shirts and don't have collars). I just think if we want true equality in the workplace, we need this change, or women have to wear trousers and collared shirts every day like we do.

That's not unfair. That's what they asked for a hundred years ago.