(no subject)

[andrewducker]

A man recently took his employer to court, alleging that making him wear a tie while women didn't have to was sexual discrimination. Sadly, he lost.

Here's a snippet from a news story on it:

At a hearing in the city, tribunal chairman John Hollow said although there was a difference in treatment between male and female officers, it was not discriminatory in this case.

In his judgement he said: "We are not persuaded by the applicant's argument. We prefer the respondent's view that in as far as a dress code reflects the dress code of society that does not amount to discrimination."

Mr Hollow said conventional attitudes of society had changed and were constantly changing in relation to these matters.

He added: "At one stage it would have been unthinkable for women to wear trousers at work, let alone in a disciplined environment such as the Prison Service. We do not find the dress regulations operated in a discriminatory way."


Which basically means "The rules state you'll look smart. Societal norms for male smartness include ties, societal norms for female smartness do not. Therefore men must wear ties and women don't have to. Societal norms constantly change and at some point you may not have to wear a tie. This week you do."

I'll just have to look forward to societal norms changing. I hate ties.

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. One of the best parts of living on the West Coast of the US is that standards of dress are far less formal than elsewhere in the US. Except for lawyers and similar high-status professionals almost no men wears ties, including when they go out to plays and similarly formal events. In contrast, on the East Coast, as similar evens the standards of formal dress are both more obviously gendered and includes far more men wearing ties.

[kashandara.livejournal.com]

I really like wearing ties. Unfortunately most of the outfits that they work well with for a woman are frowned on in alot of work places. We can't all get what we want I guess.

[guyinahat.livejournal.com]

Could be next week!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2840013.stm