Women wearing skirts

[Coder]

I have to wear pants for my job all week and it helps me (disconnect?) keep work separate in my mind."

Coder, that could very well come from a guy.

LOL - I had the exact same thought. I almost put this under the silly reasons thread, but a mental break from one mode of dress into another probably can be healthy. Plus, I'm fortunate in that I do have freedom at work and it's family which is my reason, ie, "I wear skirts when on my own because that's the only time I can wear them".

I am also assuming that in her job, pants/trousers are mandatory, otherwise anything goes for her there too.
In the workplace, that's fair enough, trousers for all, no exceptions!
The problem otherwise is just the good old double standard which can be worse at work than in society in general.
Steve.

I'm pretty sure she works in a lab, but don't quote me on that. Based on what I know of our employer, ppe requirement's are probably pretty strict when it comes to covering legs up.

[zjo]

I know that women wearing skirts is a bit off topic in this section, but I have something to relate that I found interesting.

I retired from university teaching earlier this year and, while my university email account closed with my retirement, some former colleagues and a few students have my private email address. One former student I shall call Mayumi, was Japanese. She sent a round robin email to university contacts as general chat about where she is and what she has been up to since graduating in 2015 (as they commonly do). Her mails are generally aimed at female contacts and contain a lot of girly stuff that wouldn't normally interest guys. One comment she did make was in response to someone asking her what differences she had noticed going back to Tokyo after spending five years living, studying and working in Lund, Sweden for 6 years. To my surprise, she said that far more women and girls wear skirts in Japan, especially when the weather picks up. She went on to say that she had "rediscovered" how lovely it was to wear skirts again after wearing almost nothing but jeans or leggings in Sweden and had bought several new ones from designer stores in Omotesando Street, which I gather is an exclusive shopping area in Tokyo. Mayumi has secured a very well-paid job in Japan (no doubt because she passed her Master's degree under the tutorship of a brilliant lecturer called Stu ).

When I walk around my local town in the UK, skirts on women are almost a rarity except perhaps on very warm days when more seem to appear.

Hah, I just came back from Tokyo on Monday It is true that you see more women wearing skirts there than here in Finland or Sweden but I was actually expecting to see even more of that. I went a couple of times to Omotesando Street and to Harajuku which is on the other end of it. You can see new fashion trends and some really funky clothes there and I also saw a few men wearing skirts but sadly on top of their pants. On another part of Tokyo we went to a really nice restaurant and all the male waiters were wearing some sort of traditional skirt which was easy to miss since it fitted their overall dressing style so seamlessly. We also went to an onsen Ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn) were everybody was wearing a Yukata which is a type of kimono which is the national dress of Japan. It is put on like a bathrope but actually looks and feels more like a dress. It was actually really fun and refreshing to go to dinner, breakfast or anywhere in the hotel when all the men and women were wearing a "dress"

[big_daddy_thong]

Since, I have started wearing skirts it seems to me that the majority number of women in general daily life are in pants, yoga tights, sweatpants and jeans most of the time. Only in formal occasions do I see women in dresses or skirts.

[Mouse]

I ride the London tube quite often in a skirt and many times I am the only one in my section, in a skirt.

[STEVIE]

I ride the London tube quite often in a skirt and many times I am the only one in my section, in a skirt.

As a point of interest, women in skirts are rather nice in a variety of ways.
However, in relation to men in skirts, irrelevant.
I'd doubt that the same thought process occurs in reverse to your fellow commuters Mouse.
They may note you as "non-conforming", but that's about it.
Steve.

[Grok]

Like some strangers look twice when they see me in a skirt; I now look twice when I see a woman in a skirt.

Come to think of it, so do I.

[TSH]

Wanted to post this a long time ago, but never got around to 'til now, so here it is:

I've never been to Japan (yet), but it's no surprise if women really do wear skirts more, there. It's almost as if the country has this weird fixation where they need to have these young female anime characters in skirts that are as short as possible, to the point of absurdity. I guess it's because short mini skirts give these girls' legs a model look, but I find it unappealing a lot of the time.

Also, Japanese women tend to value femininity more than women in Western lands, so it could be the reason why skirts are more common in the East.

[Modoc]

It's pretty obvious that women are abandoning skirts as everyday wear.
I once had an elderly woman stop me and say, as if surrrised, "You're wearing a skirt."
I replied "Yes I am, why aren't you?
She said :"Nobody else does, so it seems kind of odd, but maybe I should.

[LiuBang]

I worked as a software developer in Iowa and two of the three female software developers often wore knee-length or longer flowy dresses (with leggings during the winter) that would fit right in with churchgoers at Easter Sunday. One of them did not wear makeup; the other sometimes did. And both of them were very liberal/secular. The third female software developer almost always wore pants and always wore a full face of makeup.

All in all it completely contradicted the stereotype of "female computer geeks are tomboys."

[LiuBang]

Definitely, around here the only women who seem to wear skirts regularly are the apostolics, everyone else it's pants, pants, pants, short, shorts, shorts. If women don't want them, I call it free game, just like corsets.

Interesting, cause in Cedar Rapids, I worked as a software dev, and the few women colleagues often wore skirts and dresses bare legged in the summer and with boots/leggings in the winter. They were definitely NOT apostolic--both were non-religious and socially liberal, one of them was lesbian. I guess maybe in the software industry women wear skirts more than women in more female-dominated fields?

[timemeddler]

Definitely, around here the only women who seem to wear skirts regularly are the apostolics, everyone else it's pants, pants, pants, short, shorts, shorts. If women don't want them, I call it free game, just like corsets.

Interesting, cause in Cedar Rapids, I worked as a software dev, and the few women colleagues often wore skirts and dresses bare legged in the summer and with boots/leggings in the winter. They were definitely NOT apostolic--both were non-religious and socially liberal, one of them was lesbian. I guess maybe in the software industry women wear skirts more than women in more female-dominated fields?

probably a sense of professionalism, out where I live there's not as much fancy desk work around, so blue collar is all most of us see.

[rode_kater]

I work in IT and our company is full of quite technical people (aka nerds). Some women dress up, but I know there's also a few who love this place because finally no-one will judge them for just wearing whatever was on top of the pile today. That's what most of the guys are doing.

Whatever is on the top of the pile in the summer is quite often a skirt fortunately

[Coder]

IT here too, at a university. I've mentioned all of this in the past - the majority of women - staff/students/faculty wear bifurcated bottoms. The women who do wear skirts (I have yet to meet another MIS at work) tend to wear skirts more often than not. This is also quite seasonal - as the weather gets nicer, you see more and more skirted outfits, colder and colder fewer brave the elements. My personal thoughts:

Girls - just like boys - are forced to wear outfits their parents think look "cute". And if one goes to certain schools, there is a required uniform, which for girls usually is limited to skirts. When these kids grow older resentment is formed towards the clothes one was required to wear rather than what one wanted to wear. I have a disdain for khakis/dress slacks/ties/white button up shirts because of school and so reject those clothing items immediately. I have no doubts, had I grown up being required to wear skirts, I would have rejected that clothing item as well, or so I suspect.

So I just think a lot of anti-skirt-dress sentiment comes down to this rebellious attitude. I've had conversations with other people about this - and they tended to agree.

I suspect women also don't wear skirts because they don't like long skirts, and short skirts don't cover their legs enough. I think pants give them an option if they are any bit at all ashamed of their legs.

[Barleymower]

I suspect women also don't wear skirts because they don't like long skirts, and short skirts don't cover their legs enough. I think pants give them an option if they are any bit at all ashamed of their legs.

My wife was a anti-skirt wearer and only had a skirt or dress formal occasions.Since the change in dress code in our house she has changed her preferences and now wears skirts and dresses 50% of the time. The official reason for trousers was thigh rub in skirts (another reason why men should be the ones in skirts).

The actual reason she nearly only wore trousers was peer pressure. Women dress up and those who feel they can't live up to beauty of the pretty ones feel sneered at. Rightly or wrongly. In the case of my wife wrongly becuase she is beautiful.

[FLbreezy]

My wife was a anti-skirt wearer and only had a skirt or dress formal occasions.Since the change in dress code in our house she has changed her preferences and now wears skirts and dresses 50% of the time. The official reason for trousers was thigh rub in skirts (another reason why men should be the ones in skirts).

My wife would rarely wear skirts, even though she knew I liked seeing her in them. Now that I wear them almost every day, she wears them 50-70% of the time, depending on the week and the weather. It's pretty great!