Can Men Wear Skirts to Work? Let's Discuss Workplace Dress Code Norms

Dear Colleagues,

A few weeks ago, we were reviewing some company policies, and a few of them were related to the company dress code. During this discussion, one of my colleagues jokingly suggested that just as ladies elegantly wear designer skirts to the office, men could also wear skirts in the same manner. Do you think this would be acceptable in our workplace?

I would appreciate hearing your views on this matter.

Regards,
Nelson Thomas

An expected reaction, and quite normal; no issues here. However, the question was posed with a deeper meaning, emphasizing the hype companies create regarding their support for gender equality and LGBTQ support. It was observed that, aside from pledging support for anti-discriminatory policies, there have been no operational changes in existing company policies to accommodate or address gender-sensitive issues.

How to modify company policies for LGBTQ inclusion

So, I will present the actual question posed by my colleague: "How do we modify our existing company policies to ensure they address LGBTQ members without any risk of alienation?" The dress code query was mentioned to capture the attention of all. It would still be great to receive inputs in this regard.

Yes, I have to admit this was really tricky as the dress code policy has been one of the gender-sensitive policies for companies. In the discussion, it had been pointed out to us that for transgender individuals, there were situations where a gender was biologically assigned at birth, but due to hormonal balance factors and self-perception, the individual grows up under the assumption of another gender. An example is a transgender person being born as a male biologically but growing up as a female. So, within the transgender community, we have both male and female genders, and what would be recorded in the company records would be the gender they assign themselves to.

Dress Code Policy Discussion

The dress code policy discussion came up in this regard, and it seemed to be the simplest of the many gender-sensitive policies that we could address as a start. Unfortunately, we were wrong. The situation is not negative in any way. It was more of an eye-opener. It brought to us the need for a wider perspective when we design employee policies for the future on the basis of diversity.

Gender Equality and Organizational Policies

It is easy for organizations to state that they blindly support gender equality or LGBTQ+ co-existence in their premises, but whether these companies have been able to enable their organizational policies well enough to accommodate these preferences without bias stands as a big question today.