Work Attire

I was in a meeting the other day, and after we finished talking about all of our worky stuff, we somehow veered off onto the wardrobe tangent.  We started off by talking about the inequity between work attire for men and women around here.  Women here can get away with a lot more than men .  We can wear skirts, shorts, capris or pants.  We can have sleeveless shirts (although spaghetti straps are frowned upon) , short sleeves or long sleeves.  We can have collars or not, and we can wear nicer knit shirts.  When it comes to shoes, you see women here wearing everything from flip flops to platform shoes and stilettos.

The men around here?  Long pants, button up shirts and dress shoes.  Whether or not they wear a tie is about the only wardrobe choice they've got.

In the room with me were three men and another woman.   The men said that they did notice the discrepancy, and I was ready to comment that when they shaved their legs and polished their toes, they could start showing some leg (of feet, as the case may be.)  However, I was surprised to hear that rather than being able to dress more casually themselves, they felt that the women should sharpen up their looks.  No more shorts, and no shoes with bare toes (which is a bit of a health issue, since we work in a hospital.)

This led to us discussing a recent capitulation in the dress code that allows us to start wearing jeans on Fridays.    It's only been in place for a few months, and apparently, too many people have taken jean days too far by dressing too casually.  The powers that be are giving serious thoughts to banning jeans again.  The loss of jean days got mixed reviews at the table, but what really surprised me is the bitterness about not being allowed to wear scrubs.

We are part of a large IT department in the health care field.  Our offices are in a building that is attached to a hospital, and many of us travel frequently to and around other health care facilities in the province.   In health care, IT staff are the only ones who can't/don't wear scrubs.  Dr's and nurses obviously wear scrubs, as do most clinicians.  Unit clerks, kitchen staff, mail staff and house keeping all wear scrubs too.  IT geeks?  We wear professional attire, and apparently we're pretty bitter about it.

Honestly, I thought I was the only one who secretly coveted the scrubs.  Apparently, I'm not alone.  It was unanimous around the table that, given the option, we'd all wear scrubs to work every day.  They'd be cheaper and lower maintenance for us all, and they'd be more equitable for both men and women.    More importantly, though, they'd be more comfortable.   They'd be like wearing our pajamas to work every day; and really,  how could having a daily pajama party at the office not be a good thing?