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Business Daily: The women kicking off their high heels at work

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The women kicking off their high heels at work

15/09/2022 GMT

BBC World Service - Business Daily, The women kicking off their high heels at work

We speak to campaigners in the UK and Japan who want the right to choose their own shoes.

We speak to campaigners in the UK and Japan who want the right to choose their own shoes and we find out if the pandemic has changed companies’ attitudes.

For years women working in certain jobs, such as banking or retail, have had to wear high heels as part of the company’s dress code. But now women around the world are fighting for the right to choose their own shoes at work. 

Elizabeth Semmelhack, the director and senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in the Canadian city of Toronto tells us the history of the high heel and its journey from the battlefield to the boardroom.

Ally Murphy, a former flight attendant, describes the pain caused to cabin crew who are made to wear high heels at work.

Nicola Thorp, who led a campaign in the UK to make it illegal for companies to force workers to wear high heels, says many companies are now changing their shoe policies because they don’t want the bad publicity. 

Change is slower in Japan, however, where supporters of the #KuToo movement continue to campaign against mandatory high heels at work. The BBC’s Singapore correspondent, Mariko Oi, who is from Japan, tells us how corporate dress and expectations are still firmly embedded into Japanese culture.

Then we travel to the Indian capital, Delhi, to find out if the pandemic has changed companies’ attitudes to workwear there.

Presenter/producer: Jo Critcher

Music courtesy of Dorian Electra: "The Dark History of High Heels" 

(Image: woman suffering from foot pain; Credit: Getty Images)

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