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[av_heading heading=’ ‘KILLER HEELS’ JUNKED DOLE: No more mandatory stilettos for working women ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – Today, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is expected to issue an order prohibiting business establishments from requiring female employees to wear high-heeled shoes in the workplace.
The goal is to “prevent discomfort on lady workers,” said Labor secretary Silvestre Bello III who was here yesterday to grace a job fair in line with the city’s 80th Charter Day celebration.
The country’s biggest workers’ group, the Associated Labor Unions – Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), said high-heeled shoes pose danger to the safety and health of women employees.
“We received many persistent complaints from salesladies working in department stores and malls that they are in pain walking and standing for long hours performing their jobs in high-heel shoes. They also worry that this might have long-term damage on them,” said Gerard Seno, ALU national executive vice president.
Article 132 of the Labor Code called for the establishment of “standards that will ensure the safety and health of women employees,” said Bello.
Business establishments not complying with the DOLE order will be slapped with penalties, the most severe of which is closure.
The department’s labor law compliance officers will be visiting business establishments to check for compliance, said Bello.
The allowable maximum height of a shoe’ heel in working places is only one inch, he stressed.
DOLE will also be requiring business establishments to provide employees with gears for sitting.
“‘Yung mga sales girls natin dapat provided with stools or chairs para every now and then mabigyan naman sila ng rest. Kung eight hours kang nakatindig, kawawa ka naman…,” said Bello.
But DOLE’s prohibition on high-heeled shoes should cover not only salesladies, said Seno.
It should also include promodizers in supermarkets, waitresses, hotel and restaurant receptionists and flight attendants, he stressed.
“Apart from the pain, working women also complain of injury after slipping, falling and tripping with high-heeled shoes on. This must be stopped. Women workers should not be compelled to put on stilettos against their will. They should not be exposed to any harm and danger at all times,” Seno said.
The government has no existing regulation that governs the wearing of high-heeled shoes in the workplace and gives the discretion to employers. Thus, women working under the company policy have choice but to comply and endure the agony for long periods.
“For fear of censure from supervisors and lack of genuine grievance mechanism in the workplace amid numerous anecdotal accidents involving high-heeled shoes, women in the circumstances are powerless – most of which are contractualized workers and have no union to represent them. They just endure the pain for the entire duration of their shift and have no choice but to comply with company policy for the entire duration of their contracts against their will,” Seno said./PN
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