Casual Thursday
I'm teaching a class this afternoon. I do this every couple of months for a variety of people and institutions. I mainly teach graduate or professional school classes, but sometimes I'll do refresher or continuing education courses. Usually, I get an hour or two to talk about whatever I'm talking about, and I get respectful silence through most of the class. Almost every class I teach is to science or health care students or professionals.
Today, the class is on a subject I know peripherally. It's not my main area of expertise, so I'm doing a little more research than usual to prepare for the class.
I took a look at the syllabus, just to get a sense of what else these people are learning, so I have some context in which to put my stuff. I scrolled down to the oral presentations the students will eventually have to give to their classmates and instructor later on down the line. I stopped to think about this part, and in fact a colleague in my office who is also teaching the class called me to ask if I'd seen it:
I bristled. I suppose, wandering around the halls of professional schools, one sort of cringes inwardly looking at the future "professionals." Medical students (this is not a medical school class that I'm teaching, though I do that from time to time), like the law students I went to school with, are extremely casual in their attire. Shorts and tee shirts are the main uniform, sometimes interchanged with jeans and polos. And increasingly, one can get by in the health care profession for an entire career without ever really having to dress professionally. Some people choose to live in scrubs full time. I can understand the need to spell out what "professional attire" is.
But no pantsuits? That's so archane that it's not even really the standard in the legal profession anymore. And law is one of the last bastions of conservatism. Aside from a few antique judges' courtrooms, the only other place that I know of that is in the current White House. And it seems that men in this particular situation are trusted to dress themselves much more than women are.
I deliberately am wearing pants today.
I was telling my mother about this today, and she related a story to me about when she was a bio-chemist at the National Institutes of Health in the mid-sixties. One of the main, well-respected female scientists at NIH showed up wearing pants instead of a skirt, and within days, the trickle down was so great that pretty much every woman started wearing pants, including my mother. My mom said that pants were just more practical in the lab, and it was a huge relief to wear them. And, she pointed out, at that point in time, skirts were so short that it was much more professional to wear pants than shorts. My mom always suspected that the men's objection to the pants weren't based on some weird standard of professionalism, but old fashioned sexism. They wanted to look at the women's legs.
Today, the class is on a subject I know peripherally. It's not my main area of expertise, so I'm doing a little more research than usual to prepare for the class.
I took a look at the syllabus, just to get a sense of what else these people are learning, so I have some context in which to put my stuff. I scrolled down to the oral presentations the students will eventually have to give to their classmates and instructor later on down the line. I stopped to think about this part, and in fact a colleague in my office who is also teaching the class called me to ask if I'd seen it:
- Look the role of a professional.
- All: well groomed; no shorts or baseball hats
- Women:
- NO PANTSUITS; suit or dress (always a skirt); A dark (navy blue or black) or neutral suit is always appropriate and blouse or shell that is conservative
- Hose and appropriate shoes
- Leave noisy jewelry at home
- NO PANTSUITS; suit or dress (always a skirt); A dark (navy blue or black) or neutral suit is always appropriate and blouse or shell that is conservative
- Men:
- Shirt and tie and well shaven
- All: well groomed; no shorts or baseball hats
I bristled. I suppose, wandering around the halls of professional schools, one sort of cringes inwardly looking at the future "professionals." Medical students (this is not a medical school class that I'm teaching, though I do that from time to time), like the law students I went to school with, are extremely casual in their attire. Shorts and tee shirts are the main uniform, sometimes interchanged with jeans and polos. And increasingly, one can get by in the health care profession for an entire career without ever really having to dress professionally. Some people choose to live in scrubs full time. I can understand the need to spell out what "professional attire" is.
But no pantsuits? That's so archane that it's not even really the standard in the legal profession anymore. And law is one of the last bastions of conservatism. Aside from a few antique judges' courtrooms, the only other place that I know of that is in the current White House. And it seems that men in this particular situation are trusted to dress themselves much more than women are.
I deliberately am wearing pants today.
I was telling my mother about this today, and she related a story to me about when she was a bio-chemist at the National Institutes of Health in the mid-sixties. One of the main, well-respected female scientists at NIH showed up wearing pants instead of a skirt, and within days, the trickle down was so great that pretty much every woman started wearing pants, including my mother. My mom said that pants were just more practical in the lab, and it was a huge relief to wear them. And, she pointed out, at that point in time, skirts were so short that it was much more professional to wear pants than shorts. My mom always suspected that the men's objection to the pants weren't based on some weird standard of professionalism, but old fashioned sexism. They wanted to look at the women's legs.