Re: Dress Code stuff

[Peter Brown <pbrown -at- MKS -dot- COM>]

Lynn Gold wrote:

> Eric Haddock wrote:

> >   What's the benefit of mandating suits when most don't want to wear
> them? It
> >costs the employees a lot of money to buy dress clothes--this is
> especially
> >true for women since their wardrobes cost a great deal more money
> which hurts
> >women even more since their salaries are already lower than men in
> the same
> >positions. If the same males who told women to wear skirts in winter
> also had
> >to shell out the bucks for a real wardrobe and not for a
> comparatively small
> >collection of suit jackets and shirts and ties (which all look the
> same
> >more or less) that can be worn again even in the same week, then
> perhaps
> >dress codes wouldn't be as strict as they appear to be.
>
> In my experience, men's suits are generally WAY more expensive than
> women's
> suits.  There are also more places that seem to cater to discount
> women's
> dress clothes than men's.  The REAL issue is COMFORT.  Skirts usually
> cost
> me less to buy than slacks, but I can't move around as easily if I'm
> dressed up.  Companies that make workers dress-up when it's not an
> integral
> part of their job function hurt themselves by not letting workers work
> in
> clothes they find comfortable.

Apples and oranges. Yes, for men, each suit costs more. But men's formal
wear is much more generic than women's. A man can get away with, what,
maybe three suits in total, and a bunch of shirts and ties. Women can't
get by with three suits, or three dresses. From what I've seen of people
dressing up in the workplace, women's fashion requires more variety.

The cost is obviously a concern for both sexes. If I were considering a
job offer with a particular salary figure attached, my opinion of that
salary would change depending upon how formal the workplace was, simply
because of cost. If I were to go back to good, old IBM, I'd have to drop
$2,000 on dress clothes just off the top.

--
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Opinions? I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention."
Peter Brown, Technical Writer (pbrown -at- mks -dot- com)
Mortice Kern Systems Inc. (http://www.mks.com)

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