The title of the following posting from Slashdot.org is what gave me a laugh. I could tell them that anything designed more than 25 years ago would probably appear to be sexist. In aviation, our standard passenger was a 160# male and the standard pilot was a 170# male, as I recall. Women should be pleased to learn that, in later years, it has been recognized that both sexes of any age may be aboard an aircraft. I was an "over-50 female" for one evacuation test. I was well "over-50" at the time (about 65) and we found the door blocked, so had to exit through an escape window - onto the wing, down to the ground. I was also the Guinea pig for testing to see whether a woman in high heels had a problem with using re-designed control pedals (I had to borrow the shoes!)
Researchers: The Thermostat In Your Office May Be Sexist 304
I have been saying for decades that they set the AC and heat levels for men wearing suits, not for the production workers or for the way women are expected to dress in the office.
Posted by: bogie | August 08, 2015 at 06:28 AM
Who would want to wear high heels while piloting a plane which I guess is what you're describing when you reference using control pedals? When I flew with my husband in a little Cessna, I certainly didn't wear heels as a "faux co-pilot" and I certainly wouldn't have worn them had I been a legitimate pilot.
That sounds like something I thought they only did in the movies. They've always had women running for their lives in dangerous walking environments but wearing high heels. Why doesn't such a scene elicit ridiculing laughter from women, at least, in a theater audience? I guess we just suspend belief in reality 'cause it's make-believe.
Yes, the whole A/C, heat thing was really weird and probably still is in a lot of places. I also thought it was ridiculous men were wearing all these heavy clothes and women, supposedly the more fragile sex, were dressed scantily. I always remember when short short skirts debuted onto the social scene as acceptable desired office fashion -- promoted by we all know who. I watched in amazement at "girls"/women in short short skirts, in below zero winter weather in snow country (when I was living there.) They were also wearing heavy equally short coats, gloves on their hands, sometimes hats as they walked to work, or walked about shopping -- maybe wearing boots to their knees -- with all that leggy bare skin exposed. Is that nuts or what? Then, they would come inside complaining about how cold they were! Even now -- do women, especially, exercise common sense dressing today?
Posted by: Joared | August 11, 2015 at 08:55 AM
Bogie & Joared--It is hard to get it right for us all, isn't it?
Joared--Exactly! I never flew in heels nor, in those days, wore them to work - thus, having to borrow heels from a secretary. It's surprising to me how many women (and men) wear flip-flops when traveling by air. I try to wear natural fibers on my body and leather shoes on my feet when flying commercially.
As to coverage during office hours: I normally wore conservative business dress, the exception being in the summer of (about) 1980. That summer, the air conditioning went out in the all-glass building in which I worked, in the middle of a hot Kansas summer. Prognosis being that it would be a few weeks before the system would be fixed, two things happened: 1) the glass walls on the north side of the building were removed to at least give us some air circulation and 2) we women wore short skirts or hot pants and the men wore cut-offs or Bermuda shorts. I told the managers that I would get my hemline down to a reasonable level when they got the temperature down to a reasonable level. No one gave us any grief.
Posted by: Cop Car | August 14, 2015 at 05:35 PM
I'm glad to hear that no one at work gave you any grief about hemlines when the office was so hot.
I have a friend who is always cold. At exercise she will have on long sleeves in summer, and may bring a hoodie with her just in case she is still cold. Just about the time you posted this entry, she was talking about how cold the city offices were when she was working. We came to he conclusion it had to do with the comfort of the men in suits. I'm glad to see we were right! lol
Posted by: buffy | August 17, 2015 at 04:38 PM