Two Day Magazine

Why do women get to have all the fun?

Guys, look around your workplace environment. How many of your female co-workers are wearing open-toed shoes and have exposed legs?

Now look down — you’ve probably got on shoes and pants, right?

Wouldn’t it be nice to work in sandals and shorts, too?

Believe it or not, but the workplace is filled with gender discrimination against men when it comes to dress code policies.

Women can wear flip flops or at least open-toed shoes, but men are stuck between brown or black shoes.

Men choose between black or brown dress pants, while women decide whether they’ll wear a skirt, pants or dress.

What a dress code double standard.

Shirts and ties, for the most part, is the norm for men in many workplace settings. I tend to wear polo shirts to work, and have found creative ways to kick off my shoes and enjoy flip flops at work.

How? If you look under my desk, there are several pairs of shoes — dress shoes, flip flops, tennis shoes. I keep my footwear stocked at work because I never know when I’ll need to switch into them. When I’m stuck at my desk for nearly the entire day, I kick off the shoes and slip into my comfortable flip flops every now and then.

I always feel the need to hide out in my flip flops as I continue working just as hard as if I was wearing shoes, even though my female co-workers proudly wear open-toed shoes, sandals and flip flops to work.

In a previous job, I grew frustrated about the unequal rule against flip flops after a manager told me I couldn’t wear flip flops to my part-time job, where I sat behind a desk the entire time. Her reason? She said it was a “work hazard” because part of my job description included lifting heavy stuff.

In the year I spent there, I lifted nothing that was deemed heavy. Maybe the keyboard was the heaviest thing I lifted?

Female co-workers with jobs similar or the same as mine wore flip flops every day. So, after I was reprimanded, I went to human resources and demanded that either I be permitted to wear flip flops or my co-workers be forced to wear shoes, explaining the dress code policy discriminated against guys.

The HR person agreed, and the policy was updated so that people in my position could wear anything, provided they were not lifting heavy items.

My manager wasn’t happy with me, but I stood up for what was right. Friends thought I was crazy to actually care about such an issue. While I admit it seems silly on the surface, I knew it wasn’t a fair policy.

After that, I rarely wore flip flops to the job. I think I was more excited to prove that the manager had an unfair policy for men than I was to wear flip flops.

I’m torn on whether flip flops are “appropriate” for work. In fact, I’m torn on what is work appropriate anymore. For me, I don’t function better if I’m in a shirt and tie or some spiffy outfit. I also feel comfortable doing business with others who aren’t necessarily outfitted with a tie.

I work just as hard in pajama pants as I do dress pants. So, I wonder if sometimes workplaces are scratching the surface with dress code policies? And, in doing so, discriminating against men by allowing female co-workers to wear items men cannot.

I’m just not sure how or when open-toed shoes became acceptable for women at work? I think of positions such as a teacher or doctor, where a woman might need to carry a student or patient in an emergency situation.

Yet, in those situations, women are wearing shoes that I’d deem unacceptable. In those same workplaces, you’d never see a man wearing flip flops.

There’s certainly a double standard when it comes to wardrobes in the workplace — whether it’s a matter of streamlining a dress code policy or freeing up office attire. Society also has helped promote the idea that men should wear shirts and ties, while women can wear flip flops.

There’s a host of other (probably) more important gender discrimination issues that I’m sure human resources departments and employees try coping with every day. It’s probably safe to say a fair dress code isn’t one of them.

At least in my world, equal footwear for men and women is important.

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Let's continue this conversation on twoday's Facebook page: What other gender-biased issues in the workforce to you notice? Are women favored by these rules or do men win out?