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Union leaders today spoke out against high heels in the workplace and demanded women be allowed to wear “sensible” shoes to work.
Delegates at the TUC Congress in Liverpool backed a motion requiring some employers to carry out a risk assessment into health and safety hazards of high-heeled shoes.
Lorraine Jones, of the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, said women employees, including shop staff and cabin crew, had to wear heels as part of a dress code, but this did not apply to men.
High heels put them at risk of short-term health problems and long-term injuries to their knees, she said, and cost two million lost working days per year.
She added: “We're not trying to ban high heels. They are good for glamming up but not for the workplace. Women should have a choice.”
Reader views (5)
I would like to point out that three of the four comments above - and all comments opposing the motion - are men. However, as someone who works for upwards of 9 hours on my feet, and also having been told by my employer that heels are more elegant and thus should be worn by myself, I feel that I am well qualified to say that this motion is an excellent idea. All women should have the option of wearing flat shoes at work, enabling them to avoid problems with their feet and the potentially *very* acute pain of standing for hours in uncomfortable and impractical shoes.
Also may I point out that heels do not have to be stilettos to be intensely painful.
- Alison, london, 22/09/2009 22:59
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"...women employees, including shop staff and cabin crew, had to wear heels as part of a dress code, but this did not apply to men."
But, isn't it blatantly unfair that - at the moment - men get the choice of whether they want to wear heels or flats to work whilst women do not?
- Becky, Bristol, 22/09/2009 21:59
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Ah, agendas - y'gotta luv 'em!
Gary, wycombe - unfortunately, stating the obvious goes straight over the heads of people with their own agendas. They tend to ignore inconvenient reality. "High heels", for instance, does not have to mean stilettoes. "One size fits all", as a socialist maxim, means taking everything down to the lowest level - now including apparently, women - who are generally shorter than men (that last was for the information of those who use their ideologies rather than their eyes to see the world around them).
Word to the wise - ANYthing can be dangerous. It's a matter of balancing the pluses and minuses rather than banning everything under the Sun just in case. (Education minister/Children's magic wand waver/Protector of the innocent from the equally innocent - please take note).
- Rogan, Irving, 22/09/2009 21:59
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>>Delegates at the TUC Congress in Liverpool backed a motion requiring some employers to carry out a risk assessment into health and safety hazards of high-heeled shoes
Maybe Unions should be required to carry out Sanity & Sensibility tests before passing motions that are more like body motions.
- Peter, Harrow, UK, 22/09/2009 21:59
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oh just great for any woman under 5'4'' - i can just see them wanting to wear flat, sensible shoes!! Why don't these people just get a life instead of poking their huge beaks into other peoples lives?
- Gary, wycombe, 22/09/2009 21:59
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