Take on the U.K. High heel dilemma

There is an issue in front of the UK parliament which is so important we have to put our DonaldTrumpWatch on hold for a day. There is legislation pending which would make it illegal to ask women to wear high heels as part of their dress code

The entire thing is a response to a petition by a receptionist who was sent home for wearing flat shoes while working at PWC in 2015, a petition which got 150,000 signatures.

Our position on flats is well documented as it's up there as one of the most egregious fashion faux pas out there, and that is coming from a guy who shoves the NY Post into his Jets jacket. Our position on proper work attire is that, in general, a woman should dress anyway she'd like, as long as it's professional. But this is assuming they are not on the client side, in which case everything changes. That doesn't necessarily have to mean heels but it certainly should mean something different than what Marge in accounting wears. The receptionist at a major financial firm is often the first view that you have when you walk in, he or she is the first impression. If he or she is sitting behind a desk it may not matter but if they are walking around they shouldn't look like a dumpy frog.

So if you complain about the heels, realize that a man can't come to work in shorts, a sleeveless shirt or flip flops. The requirements for proper dress are different depending on the sex, that's an unfortunate fact
A dress requirement isn't just a receptionist thing, if my financial advisor shows up with a Donald Duck tie, I'm asking him to leave.
It's not as if women's shoes are an exception either, If my insurance broker shows up in sneakers, I'm taking my business elsewhere. If the guy handling our 401K shows up in flip-flops he can find another company to try to pitch. Some jobs even make footwear a requirement, a guy working on a construction site has to wear work boots but a guy in an office can't. A baseball player has to wear cleats, a basketball player sneakers but neither is appropriate for me.

I want my lawyer in a suit, my doctor in one of those white jacket things, my UPS driver in those weird brown shorts, the POTUS in slacks even on the weekend, my lifeguard in a thong, a stripper in stilettos. It just means that they are taking their job, and themselves, seriously.