Believe it or not, it’s still legal for employers to insist that female employees wear high heels at work. This is despite the fact that a large body of medical research has proven that years of daily wear can cause irreversible health problems.
WHEN 27-year-old Nicola Thorp arrived for her first day as a receptionist at the London offices of Price Waterhouse Coopers she was sent home because she was wearing (formal) flat shoes, rather than high heels. The media picked up on her story after she posted about her experience online.
Around the same time, a Canadian woman named Nicola Gavins posted a photograph of her blood–soaked tights on Facebook. Gavins, who worked as a waitress in Edmonton, sustained her injuries because she was obliged to wear high heels at work. The post went viral and was shared almost 13,000 times.
Petition
Capitalising on the media and public attention, Thorp set up a petition online calling on the UK’s parliament to “make it illegal for a company to require that women wear high heels at work”. The petition was signed by 142,539 people, enough to ensure that the matter is debated by MPs.
Part of the petition process involved collecting testimony from members of the public affected by this issue. Some of the online submissions make for harrowing reading in 2016. The following quotations are all taken from the public submissions (available at parliament.uk/high-heels-petition-forum).
I'm no stranger to blood soaked tights – ‘Charlotte’
Many of the 730 submissions detail the damage that constant wearing of high heels can do. ‘Mia Haughton’ says that “after busy days” it was “hard to even walk home”. A number of the posts talk about high heeled shoes leading to bleeding. ‘Tecla Vilona’ says “every girl bled. I still have scars, and bled minimum of once weekly”. ‘Rags’, meanwhile, writes that “we were supposed to wear nude tights, which I had to throw away regularly as I couldn't get the blood stains out”.
Much of the testimony relates to the long-term health effects of wearing high heels every day. A number of the posts describe irreversible, permanent damage. ‘Jane Baines- Holmes’, for example, writes that she now has “very slow healing Morton's neuromas,” a condition caused by trapped nerves in the foot.
Wearing high heels every day at work also gives rise to a whole range of physical safety issues. In her submission, for example, ‘Elizabeth’ says she remembers “wobbling around on [high heels] especially on the fire escapes, during a fire drill”.
I've been terminated because of this issue of high heels – ‘Vanessa’
A number of women write in their submissions about the feeling of being objectified. ‘Sarah Saunders’, for example, writes that her boss “said that [she] was there to be aesthetically pleasing”. ‘Jane’, meanwhile, recalls feeling that her boss “was using [her] as a piece of meat to win a contract”.
Numerous posts on the petition’s page talk about the implications that looks and dress have on a woman’s career prospects. A shocking number of posts describe being fired or passed over for promotion as a result of failing to wear high heels. ‘Elizabeth’ recalls that when she said she would not be able to manage four hours of serving drinks in heels, she “was sacked on the spot.”
Challenge
A sense emerged from the public testimony that women who dared to challenge the high heel requirement were not likely to be met with much understanding. A few of the posts recall that, when a complaint was lodged, management’s response was to suggest the complainant resign. ‘Emma’, for example, recalls that her “query was met with a reminder of the company’s strict policy and a 'quip' that I could rest my feet all I wanted if I became unemployed”. Similarly, a post under the name MRS_SJ says that she has “previously challenged this to be told it's my choice where I work and I could choose to work somewhere that doesn't require me to wear heels”.
Although many organisations won’t fire women who do not wear high heels, they find other ways to register their dis- content.
‘Alison’, for example, says that “high heels have a positive impact on how well you're regarded and how likely you are to progress”. ‘Cat’, meanwhile, remembers that “on starting as a graduate trainee we were advised that if we did not wear high heels and makeup we should not expect to succeed in our careers”. ‘Kim Farrington’ remembers how she “could not walk at speed and male colleagues would often stride into meetings leaving [her] trailing behind. This left an impression that as a female manager [she] was always a step behind”.
Thompsons says that “an employer can dismiss someone fairly for refusing to comply” with a dress code, provided it is reasonable. However the employee must “have been given prior warnings and adequate time to comply”.
The law firm also claims that employers can “treat men and women differently”, provided they don’t treat one of the sexes more favourably.
Parliamentary inquiry
Following the success of the petition, a series of parlia- mentary hearings took place in June. MPs on the Petitions and Women and Equalities Committees heard testimonies from a number of the women who had contributed to the forum, including Nicola Torp, as well as employers and the TUC’s women’s equality officer, Scarlet Harris.
The aim of the inquiry is to gain a clear understanding of what the current law says about the issue and how it is affecting people. Committee inquiries can, but do not always, lead to reports that make specific recommendations to the Government. What’s clear is that Nicola and all of the women who contributed their experience to the petition have laid down a timely challenge to antiquated ideas about dress codes at work
