to wonder whether it is discriminatory to insist on women wearing heels to work?

[Barbierella]

Am I wrong in thinking some professions insist on women wearing heeled shoes to work, such as airlines?

Bearing in mind heeled shoes are known to cause pain and long term damage to feet this is a very unreasonable request. And if men are not required to wear them then women should not either.

-Flexible sole and shoe so foot can bend naturally

I think the health and safety act would come to play here. An employer must have regard for the health and safety of employees. Requiring employees to wear footwear which has been shown to cause disability, would I believe be in violation of the act. Someone who suffered as a consequence would I think have grounds to sue there employer. I'm not a lawyer by the way, so interesting to see what a lawyer would think.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine
It sounds like you are endorsing my flip flop habit - awesome!

Flip-flops often fail on the flexibility and security aspects (as well as soke thickness depending on style). Continual wearing of flipflops may lead to hammer-toe - sorry!

I always go for flexible ones and have been wearing them for years without getting hammer toe, so hopefully I am toeing the line (I'm sorry - I couldn't help it!). What are the ideal shoes as far as you're concerned?

My industry (and the Industry not just my company) has a pretty strict dress code including that females must be in heel min 2 inches unless a doctors note says otherwise. Then it must be a smart black polished structured flat shoe I.e no ballet pumps.

Similarly males have a similarly strict dress code/ grooming policy.

Never had any complaints and with 13 years in the industry I've never known any case to go to HR/Tribunal as if there is a genuine medical reason or a doctors note, adjustments are made.

flip flops are not ideal worn all the time.

but no-one is forced to be airline cabin crew, with the compulsory makeup and compulsory silly shoes. Hopefully female pilots don't have to wear heels as I believe that driving a plane involves pedals. (Am I right? Anyone here a pilot?)

That's interesting laracroft; I didn't realise it was ever that specific! Do you mind saying which industry that is? Do they specify no bare legs etc? I find it weird seeing so many tights in London on a boiling hot day!

I'd be dreadfully upset if I was compelled to wear heels, I'm bordering on religious about only wearing zero drop wide toe box shoes!

I think we should be putting our feet down more about this excuse the pun.
I agree with you op.
But then I never wear heels, I ca t walk in them and they hurt.

My industry (and the Industry not just my company) has a pretty strict dress code including that females must be in heel min 2 inches unless a doctors note says otherwise. Then it must be a smart black polished structured flat shoe I.e no ballet pumps.

Really curious what industry you're in.

I was thinking pole dancing but careful reflection led me to conclude that you'd probably be bare foot for that?

I think it's utterly outrageous that a company can specify heel height for female employees and not male employees.

It's totally saying that you have to look 'female' to do a particular job.

Why not just go the whole hog and say you have to display a certain number of inches of cleavage as well.

Dear lord laracroft! Just visualising myself waddling painstakingly around the offfice (?) before going over on my ankle.

Well googling do female flight attendants have to wear high heels brought up an interesting result.

I should be grateful most of the page was covered by a large warning asking me to confirm I'm over 18.

Never had any complaints and with 13 years in the industry I've never known any case to go to HR/Tribunal as if there is a genuine medical reason or a doctors note, adjustments are made.

Lack of complaints doesn't mean it's not discriminatory - just because people are prepared to put up with crap in order to earn a living doesn't make it right.

I wonder how difficult it would be to get a doctors note? I am very prone to going over on my ankle...would that wash??
I infact am still getting over the last time when I tripped over nothing whilst wearing sensible shoes, if I had wear heels...well it just doesnt bear thinking about.

I cant see any employer constructing a rational argument for insisting that women wear heels if men dont have to

What possible reason could they give which didnt make them sound as if they'd just flown in from the 1970's

I've had incipient bunions (genetic) since the age of 10; I think the only reason I haven't needed surgery yet is because I have always worn sensible shoes - no heels, no pointed toes etc. I wonder if that would be enough to get me a doctor's note? It does strike me as discriminatory expecting women to wear something physically painful when men don't have to. I don't wear make-up, either - lucky I never wanted to be a cabin attendant.

I wonder how difficult it would be to get a doctors note? I am very prone to going over on my ankle...would that wash??

I have no idea but would like to think doctors would be sympathetic to writing a note when faced with such sexist, archaic, potentially injury causing shite from an employer.

My feet are sore in heeled shoes, which I can't wear anyway. Why should anyone be forced to walk around with their feet at such an unnatural angle?

Most airline hostesses appear to wear low heels, about 1.5 inches, and their shoes appear to be padded (kind of like the "Footglove" brand). They look very comfortable. I believe there has been some research that proves wearing totally flat shoes such as ballerinas and flipflops causes damage to the spine and feet so perhaps the airlines have received advice that the shoes the hostesses wear now are in fact the wisest choice for their purpose? In my opinion air hostesses´ shoes are really ugly so I can´t imagine they were chosen for aesthetics.

This reminds me of years ago when I had a mild accident to my ankle and foot while exercising and had to use crutches for a few weeks. I had only been working at my job for a few months.

I hobbled into work with the crutches, wearing a pair of trainers and my usual work clothes (a skirt suit and shirt). I knew it didn´t look stylish, but I could barely walk! I had a doctor´s note about the injury already as I´d had to miss a few hours of work to go to the medical appointment. My job was not client facing day to day, (we did meet clients and potential clients face to face but only in pre-arranged meetings which rarely took place in our office), but both the H.R. manager and my boss reacted with horror to the fact that I was wearing trainers, so much so that they didn´t even ask whether I was OK after the injury. Our office didn´t have a lift so I had to go up two flights of stairs on the crutches, but that´s by the by.

Eventually they made me go back to the doctor to request a letter confirming that I needed to wear trainers. When I did so the doctor looked horrified, then sympathetic, and said she´d do it and e-mail it to my employer.

I thought nothing of it until I had finished working at the company years later and they gave me a file of all my "personal" information. Inside was the letter the doctor had written to them about my need to wear trainers while recovering from injury. I still have it to this day - it is hilarious! The tone of the entire letter drips with sarcasm and implies that they are an entirely unreasonable employer with ridiculous policies. I never saw that particular doctor again but I hope I bump into her one day in a pub and can buy her a very large drink. One of life´s heroes!

if totally flat shoes damage the spine then men would get spinal damage from wearing flat shoes.

human being must be optimized for locomoting without raised heels since that is how we spend the vast majority of our evolutionary history

Most men´s shoes have more heel than a typical pair of women´s "Ballet pumps".

Both times I was pregnant my doctors (and countless magazines) advised wearing a heel of approx. 1 inch - wedges turned out to be the most comfortable and sensible, mixed with Asics trainers for exercising, long walks and things like big shopping trips.

well I dunno about you but I'm descended from hominids who walked without raised heels and I recon thats how my musculo-skeletal system works best!

re flip flops:
www.katysays.com/how-flip-flops-change-your-feet/

Snap - it´s a great website that one!

Hello

I work in the beauty retail industry, specifically with luxury retailers i.e Harrods Selfridges etc. (not pole dancing!! )

Most brands, particularly the luxury brands ie Dior, YSL, Chanel etc specify heels. Brands such as Mac or Benefit which are more funky, have a more relaxed dress code. Some store groups also specify heels in their grooming policy.

It's not that difficult to get a doctors note if required, and if one of my teams had structured smart black flat shoes on, even with out a doctors note, but were otherwise well groomed, I wouldn't personally have a problem.

Most high end fashion brands have this kind of grooming policy as well.

As I said in my previous post, genuinely never known a case to be raised to HR or anyone even thinking of complaining about it!

Disclaimer- I don't write the grooming policy!!