As you may have heard, some high end companies require female staff to wear heels which are equally high.
Wearing them all day can cause considerable discomfort – pain, in plain English. So in this day and age, how can these companies get away with being such a pain to women?
I spoke to Arianna Mendak, a former employee of the Christian Louboutin concession in Selfridge’s. Given the nature of her work – pumping posh shoes to people posh enough to purchase them – she was duly expected to wear the wares she was selling.
Was this a pinch too far?
You can tell from the emotion in her voice that Arianna and her colleagues found it painful, physically and mentally.
During the recent debate about this issue in Westminster Hall, Gill Furniss MP explained that her daughter suffered a foot fracture after being made to wear heels for her part-time retail job.
Following the debate, a petition created by receptionist Nicola Thorp gained more than 150,000 signatures – the first 10,000 people signed up in less than 48 hours.
Portico, the company that Nicola used to work for, subsequently announced it is adopting a gender-neutral dress code which includes flat shoes.
This is one small step for female workers across the UK – and still some way to go.
