UK lawmakers to companies: End sexist high-heel dress codes

LONDON — In a debate that has gone from office corridors to Britain’s Parliament, lawmakers put their foot down Monday and told employers to stop making women wear high heels as part of corporate dress codes.

Members of Parliament debated a ban on mandatory workplace high heels, in response to a petition started by a receptionist who was sent home without pay for wearing flat shoes. The debate was non-binding, but the government promised to act against heel-height rules, makeup guidelines and other corporate codes that apply to women but not to men.

Labour lawmaker Helen Jones, who helped lead a parliamentary investigation into dress codes, said she and her colleagues were shocked by what they found.

“We found attitudes that belonged more — I was going to say in the 1950s, but probably the 1850s would be more accurate, than in the 21st century,” she told lawmakers at Parliament’s Westminster Hall.

Read more: http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/uk-lawmakers-to-companies-end-sexist-high-heel-dress-codes/article_d0992aff-ff30-561d-87c3-0b76591664c1.html