news
02-24-2016, 08:36 PM
Last year, the mayor of a mid-size city in Canada wore the same suit for 15 months in a row (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/coquitlam-richard-stewart-suit-1.3459469). And nobody called him out on it ... until now.
The comment that ended Mayor Richard Stewart's spree was small; it was simply noting that his blue jacket didn't match his colleagues' gray jackets (http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/b-c-mayor-wears-one-suit-15-months-later-someone-comments-1.2788922). But the fact that it took so long for anyone to notice proved a point that the mayor and father had hoped to make all along:
Women face an unfair -- and sexist -- double standard when it comes to appearance.
For 15 months starting in 2014, Mayor Stewart wore the same "plain, off-the-rack, boring, dark blue suit" (https://www.facebook.com/notes/richard-stewart/what-if-the-mayor-wore-the-same-suit-for-a-year/1050234411663332) to every council meeting and event, dry cleaning it occasionally and switching up the shirt and tie.
Coquitlam @MayorStewart (https://twitter.com/MayorStewart) wears same suit to every council meeting for 15 mths; no one notices https://t.co/E1teqTCKZZ pic.twitter.com/soLEaEMNsS (https://t.co/soLEaEMNsS)
— The Vancouver Sun (@VancouverSun) February 23, 2016 (https://twitter.com/VancouverSun/status/702181422170140673)
Nobody made a comment. Stewart suspects that it's because he's a man, and people are used to judging women's appearances more than men's.
"It affects my daughters," Stewart told CTV News (http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/b-c-mayor-wears-one-suit-15-months-later-someone-comments-1.2788922). "I want them to grow up knowing that their appearance has nothing to do with their success in a career. We as a society have to, every chance we get, recognize the barriers we put in place for a lot of folks."
We all know that women face different dress standards than men (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=entry/-womens-beauty-standards-lax-as-mens_us_55e89d5ce4b0c818f61b40d9), but we've never seen it called out in this way before.
Well done, Mayor Stewart.
Also on HuffPost:
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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The comment that ended Mayor Richard Stewart's spree was small; it was simply noting that his blue jacket didn't match his colleagues' gray jackets (http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/b-c-mayor-wears-one-suit-15-months-later-someone-comments-1.2788922). But the fact that it took so long for anyone to notice proved a point that the mayor and father had hoped to make all along:
Women face an unfair -- and sexist -- double standard when it comes to appearance.
For 15 months starting in 2014, Mayor Stewart wore the same "plain, off-the-rack, boring, dark blue suit" (https://www.facebook.com/notes/richard-stewart/what-if-the-mayor-wore-the-same-suit-for-a-year/1050234411663332) to every council meeting and event, dry cleaning it occasionally and switching up the shirt and tie.
Coquitlam @MayorStewart (https://twitter.com/MayorStewart) wears same suit to every council meeting for 15 mths; no one notices https://t.co/E1teqTCKZZ pic.twitter.com/soLEaEMNsS (https://t.co/soLEaEMNsS)
— The Vancouver Sun (@VancouverSun) February 23, 2016 (https://twitter.com/VancouverSun/status/702181422170140673)
Nobody made a comment. Stewart suspects that it's because he's a man, and people are used to judging women's appearances more than men's.
"It affects my daughters," Stewart told CTV News (http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/b-c-mayor-wears-one-suit-15-months-later-someone-comments-1.2788922). "I want them to grow up knowing that their appearance has nothing to do with their success in a career. We as a society have to, every chance we get, recognize the barriers we put in place for a lot of folks."
We all know that women face different dress standards than men (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=entry/-womens-beauty-standards-lax-as-mens_us_55e89d5ce4b0c818f61b40d9), but we've never seen it called out in this way before.
Well done, Mayor Stewart.
Also on HuffPost:
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247392693847/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4dd410dc/sc/13/rc/1/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247392693847/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4dd410dc/sc/13/rc/1/rc.htm)
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http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247392693847/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4dd410dc/sc/13/rc/3/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/247392693847/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4dd410dc/sc/13/rc/3/rc.htm)
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247392693847/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4dd410dc/sc/13/a2.img (http://da.feedsportal.com/r/247392693847/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4dd410dc/sc/13/a2.htm)
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