Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ttidca.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!ttidca!mab From: mab@ttidca.UUCP (Michael A. Bloom) Newsgroups: net.legal,net.women Subject: Re: Job Dress Requirement Message-ID: <139@ttidca.UUCP> Date: Sun, 30-Sep-84 06:19:54 EDT Article-I.D.: ttidca.139 Posted: Sun Sep 30 06:19:54 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 2-Oct-84 03:30:34 EDT References: <525@rayssd.UUCP> <> Reply-To: mab@ttidca.UUCP (The Root-Vax ) Organization: Transaction Technology, Inc. (CitiCorp), Santa Monica Lines: 37 Summary: > Probably this company which did not permit women to wear pants at work > also did not permit men to wear dresses at work. At least one other response answered this in a similar manner. It seems to me that women wearing pants suits to work is not analogous (as implied) to men wearing dresses to work. If a man were to wear a dress to work, it would at the very least seem unbusiness-like. Not so for a woman wearing a pants suit. In fact, I feel that a pants-suit is more appropriate in a business environment than a dress. If there is to be a dress code at a place of work, it is better to choose attire that emphasizes professionalism than attire that emphasizes gender. The old adage "clothes makes the (wo)man" may also be pertinent here. Choosing the form of the individuals whose responses brought up the idea of "men wearing dresses at work": Assume for the purposes of the following question that the world was set up so that wearing gym clothes in the office was not uncommon for men, and women customarily wore pants suits. Suppose you were hired by a company where it was *required* that men at desk jobs wear gym clothing.... (because it is society's norm, of course) and you prefer to wear a suit. But you end up wearing what your company requires. How professional would you feel at that job? Care to guess at your chances for advancement? I do admit to some exaggeration, but isn't that what is needed in response? -- Michael A. Bloom (TTI, Santa Monica) {cadovax,flick,philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex,wtux2}!ttidca!mab or ttidca!mab@RAND-UNIX.ARPA