I worked in a chemistry lab for four years and lived every day in jeans and trainers. That said, I would not have attended an interview wearing those "work" clothes, as although they were appropriate for the job, they aren't appropriate for making a good impression at interview. I only owned one pair of "smart" shoes at the time, and these did have a heel (although I could not tell you how high as it has never occurred to me to measure my shoe height in the same way that some of the airlines mentioned above have mandated!).


My point is that although it wasn't necessary to wear them in the job and wasn't compulsory for the interview (and it certainly had nothing to do with wanting to be "eye-candy" or anything like that!), I still wore heels because at that time, I associated heels with looking professional and employable (even though I don't like wearing them). Does this make me part of the problem? Sadly, probably yes (NB. I'm NOT saying that everyone who wears heels is problematic, just that as I personally don't like wearing heels, I probably should have had the strength of character to wear something different. Obviously some women (and men) love a heel and good luck to them, but it would be hypocritical for me to say "Why do women feel the need to wear impractical, uncomfortable shoes for work?" when it is something I know I have done myself, so I wanted to think about my own experience and some of the factors that influenced my decision).


So, this was 15 or so years ago and my first job out of uni and with student debt etc I didn't have money to spend on "smart" shoes I would probably never wear again! My "smart" shoes were a pair that my parents had bought me for my work experience placement when I was in the 4th year of secondary school. These are still my smart shoes today (20 years later!) and they still look like new as I only wear then for interviews, occasional external business meetings and funerals! Another factor I am now considering is that of the media - being new to the working world, I had not been exposed to a wide range of successful women at that time and so tv, film and newspapers were a big part of how I learned what a "professional" woman looked like. There are very few women depicted in powerful or successful roles and those that do get shown as successful tend to be well-coiffed, high-heeled, tall, thin, with a full face of make-up. Being neither tall, nor thin, heels help create an illusion of this. I read once that in every US presidential election, the tallest candidate has won - so perhaps this is another reason why one might lean towards favouring heels for interview situations?


I think that overly prescriptive dress codes pervade into wider society and are accepted by and reflected in the mass media. This can then mean that things like a requirement for wearing heels or make-up can be adopted by those in other companies because they have a certain subconscious view of what "success" looks like or how they should be dressing to be seen as professional. This all contributes to the stereotype that there is only one cookie-cutter version of what a successful, professional woman looks like and if you don't fit that then you aren't professional. Scrapping rules on heels and make-up etc will enable more people to be themselves at work and this will provide a wider range of what success can look like. And the media definitely needs to reflect this and show more diversity in terms of how "success" or "professionalism" are represented. Let's see real people with warts and all that got to where they are not because of their shoes but because they knew where they were going in them.

I worked in a chemistry lab for four years and lived every day in jeans and trainers. That said, I would not have attended an interview wearing those "work" clothes, as although they were appropriate for the job, they aren't appropriate for making a good impression at interview. I only owned one pair of "smart" shoes at the time, and these did have a heel (although I could not tell you how high as it has never occurred to me to measure my shoe height in the same way that some of the airlines mentioned above have mandated!).


My point is that although it wasn't necessary to wear them in the job and wasn't compulsory for the interview (and it certainly had nothing to do with wanting to be "eye-candy" or anything like that!), I still wore heels because at that time, I associated heels with looking professional and employable (even though I don't like wearing them). Does this make me part of the problem? Sadly, probably yes (NB. I'm NOT saying that everyone who wears heels is problematic, just that as I personally don't like wearing heels, I probably should have had the strength of character to wear something different. Obviously some women (and men) love a heel and good luck to them, but it would be hypocritical for me to say "Why do women feel the need to wear impractical, uncomfortable shoes for work?" when it is something I know I have done myself, so I wanted to think about my own experience and some of the factors that influenced my decision).


So, this was 15 or so years ago and my first job out of uni and with student debt etc I didn't have money to spend on "smart" shoes I would probably never wear again! My "smart" shoes were a pair that my parents had bought me for my work experience placement when I was in the 4th year of secondary school. These are still my smart shoes today (20 years later!) and they still look like new as I only wear then for interviews, occasional external business meetings and funerals! Another factor I am now considering is that of the media - being new to the working world, I had not been exposed to a wide range of successful women at that time and so tv, film and newspapers were a big part of how I learned what a "professional" woman looked like. There are very few women depicted in powerful or successful roles and those that do get shown as successful tend to be well-coiffed, high-heeled, tall, thin, with a full face of make-up. Being neither tall, nor thin, heels help create an illusion of this. I read once that in every US presidential election, the tallest candidate has won - so perhaps this is another reason why one might lean towards favouring heels for interview situations?


I think that overly prescriptive dress codes pervade into wider society and are accepted by and reflected in the mass media. This can then mean that things like a requirement for wearing heels or make-up can be adopted by those in other companies because they have a certain subconscious view of what "success" looks like or how they should be dressing to be seen as professional. This all contributes to the stereotype that there is only one cookie-cutter version of what a successful, professional woman looks like and if you don't fit that then you aren't professional. Scrapping rules on heels and make-up etc will enable more people to be themselves at work and this will provide a wider range of what success can look like. And the media definitely needs to reflect this and show more diversity in terms of how "success" or "professionalism" are represented. Let's see real people with warts and all that got to where they are not because of their shoes but because they knew where they were going in them.