Why High Heels Should Never Be Required
By: Jennifer R. Povey
Tags: Dress Code, Feminism, Fashion, Footwear, Dress Code Discrimination

Photo by Apostolos Vamvouras on Unsplash

Look, I get it. Some of us love our high heels. Adore them. We like the look, we think they’re cute.

We’re willing to put up with a bit of discomfort…and even damage for our fashion. But high heels are a real problem, and many of us have consigned them to the back of the closet…or the dumpster.

Why High Heels are Bad

So, why are high heels a problem anyway? The fact is that high heels cause real, actual harm. They were started by people who wanted to, well, look taller (I say people, because there’s a surprisingly long history of men wearing high heels). Now, heels in and of themselves aren’t a problem. Riding boots have heels for safety reasons, for example. But very high heels cause a ton of issues:

According to one study by the University of Alabama, between 2002 and 2012 emergency rooms in America alone dealt with 123,555 injuries relating to high heels. These injuries include sprains and strains to the foot and ankle, but some involved broken bones. Injuries are caused by poor balance, getting stilettos stuck in ventilation grates, etc. High heels cause your back to hyperextend, resulting in leg, hip, and back pain. High heels increase your risk of hammer toes, bunions, and ingrown toenails, and will make these things worse. Chronic wearing of high heels can lead to tendonitis in the achilles tendon. Women who have worn high heels too much can even have difficulty wearing flats or going barefoot. High heels have been associated with pinched nerves, stress fractures, and heel spurs.

So, I’m not saying never wear high heels. The damage is done when you wear them all the time.

And here’s where the problem comes in: It’s perfectly legal for employers to require that you wear high heels.

Photo by Amanda Vick on Unsplash

High Heels and Dress Codes

Dress codes that require high heels are rarer than they used to be. But if you go to the airport, you’ll see a bevy of flight attendants in heels heading to a transatlantic flight. Most of them are carrying the flats they’re going to sneak on as soon as everyone’s seated. They aren’t wearing those heels by choice: Internationally, flight attendants are commonly forced to wear heels. Norwegian Airlines hit the news recently for requiring female flight attendants to wear their heels for their entire shift — or provide a doctor’s note (which had to be renewed every six months). This was alongside another sexist rule: Women were required to use makeup while men were banned from applying it.

Anti-discrimination laws can be used to challenge dress codes that put more onerous burdens on women than on men. In the U.K. there is now a major campaign to reduce dress code discrimination, of which high heels are a key part. Japan’s health minister, on the other hand, has spoken out in favor of discriminatory dress codes (Sexist dress codes tend to be worse in east Asia. Korean women have been fighting hard against requirements to wear makeup, and Japanese women face a ban on glasses).

The Cannes Film Festival hit the news for turning away several woman from a premiere in 2015 for wearing flats. At least one had a disability that meant she couldn’t wear heels. Cannes has denied that the dress code requires heels, but women are still being harassed for wearing flats.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Dress codes that require heels show up in offices (one high profile case involved a London receptionist who was sent home because her heels weren’t between 2 and 4 inches), restaurants, and stores.

What Can You Do About Dress Codes?

The basic standard for whether a dress code is legal is whether it applies similar standards to men and women. For example, it’s been ruled that requiring men to cut their hair short is not discriminatory.

Given high heels cause health problems, you would think requiring heels would be a no-brainer. You aren’t asking men to damage their feet and backs, only women. Unfortunately, courts have yet to agree with this.

If you have a medical condition that makes wearing heels difficult or impossible, you can potentially file an ADA complaint, although this is likely only to get you an exemption, not fix the problem.

Of course, the common answer is to find a job where heels aren’t required. We all know that “just find another job” is not really an appropriate response.

So, basically? We need to push until it’s socially unacceptable (or illegal) to require women to wear heels. Our feet need it.