Mummy Buzz

Jun
10
2013

Look Who's (Not) Wearing the Pants At Work

Dress Code Benders

You have to hand it to Swedish train drivers. They really know how to think out of the box, much like this awesome dad. When faced with climbing mercury and an inflexible dress code, they bent the rules and zipped up their skirts.

According to an article in the BBC, for the past two weeks a dozen Arriva drivers operating the Roslagsbanan line north of the capital Stockholm have been flouting the no-shorts rule by wearing skirts on the job instead.

It's silly but while the company—which imposed a new dress code in the winter—has taken issue with shorts at work, it doesn't have a problem with men wearing skirts on the job to keep themselves cool. The logic being that workers should "look decent and proper" in their uniforms. Why not permit sensible shorts, then?

"We have always said that when summer comes, we will get some skirts and wear them," said driver Martin Akersten. "It's very warm weather here so we would like to wear shorts but if we can't then we have skirts for comfort."

Much to the amusement of passengers, presumably. Time to rethink dress codes. Thank Sweden for testing outmoded ideas on gender and fashion. Now, I'd like to see the guys at my husband's office try this out...

Should there be more flexibility when it comes to corporate dress codes, for both men and women? Or does the uniform maketh the man?