In August, Aer Lingus was ordered to cease requiring women staff to wear medium or high-heeled shoes when not on board aircraft. The Labour Court said the dress code requirement amounted to “unfavourable treatment” on grounds of gender, and marked a long-overdue recognition of how ideas of professional appearance can be deeply sexist. Yet more workplaces need to interrogate how their dress codes and expectations around appearance may be impacting women, people of colour and LGBTQ+ workers.   The presence of women in the workforce, in historical terms, is relatively recent. Men have been granted access to employment outside the home for a significantly longer…

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