2016.05.16
Women share flat-shoe photos in solidarity with dismissed receptionist
Labour MP Stella Creasy among those tweeting pictures after Nicola Thorp said she was sent home for not wearing heels
Jessica Elgot
Friday 13 May 2016
Women at work on Friday were snapping pictures of their flat shoes in a show of solidarity with a receptionist sent home from her temp job after she did not wear high heels.
Friday 13 May 2016
Women at work on Friday were snapping pictures of their flat shoes in a show of solidarity with a receptionist sent home from her temp job after she did not wear high heels.
The Twitter trend was initiated by the Fawcett Society following a backlash against sexist dress codes imposed by some employers.
Politicians including Labour MP Stella Creasy and Women’s Equality party founder Catherine Mayer posted on Twitter as part of the feminist group’s #FawcettFlatsFriday campaign.
Earlier this week, Nicola Thorp said she arrived on her first day at PwC in December in flat shoes but was then told she had to wear shoes with a 2in to 4in heel.
Thorp, employed as a temporary worker by PwC’s outsourced reception firm, Portico, said she was sent home without pay after refusing to go out and buy a pair of heels. The agency has since said it is reviewing its guidelines.
The 27-year-old from Hackney posted about her experience on Facebook and launched a petition calling for the law to be changed so companies can no longer force women to wear high heels to work, which has received more than 126,000 signatures.
PwC said it was not its policy to enforce a dress code with high heels, and several members of its staff took part in the #FawcettFlatsFriday campaign to prove they were always allowed to wear flat shoes.
Mostly, though, the hashtag was used to make the point that women do not need to wear heels to do their jobs, whether it’s saving lives, adding up accounts, or writing about internet memes.
Source: the guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/13/women-share-flat-shoe-photos-in-solidarity-with-fired-pwc-receptionist
Mostly, though, the hashtag was used to make the point that women do not need to wear heels to do their jobs, whether it’s saving lives, adding up accounts, or writing about internet memes.
Source: the guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/13/women-share-flat-shoe-photos-in-solidarity-with-fired-pwc-receptionist
