Gee, where have I read this before? Oh, yeah...here.
Full article here, bits below.
Research has revealed women who wear skirts and jackets are viewed as more confident, higher-earning and more flexible than those opting for a trouser suit.
Scientists also found that opinions of others, based purely on the clothes they are wearing, are formed within seconds of first meeting.
Professor Karen Pine, who co-led the research at the department of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, said: “We make very rapid judgements about people within the first few seconds of meeting them based on their clothing.
“What we found suggests women can still dress in a feminine way yet still be perceived as confident and successful. The skirt suit seems to balance professionalism with attractiveness.”
The woman was rated more confident and having a higher salary and better flexibility when she was wearing skirt suits.
Professor Pine added: “We seem to make these judgements very instinctively and rapidly.”
Other also read:
Karen Pine has written an article so superb that, if I ever get the privilege to meet her, I’ll have to hug her hello (her article makes it clear she’s too worthy to shake hands with). Also, if an employer gets the urge to mandate female employees to abstain from skirts and dresses at work, this could inject some common sense into anyone with such a point of view.
Since my girls and I have gone to skirts/dresses (thanks to your book), I have noticed better responses from others, in every-day life. I have 6 children who are in tow most of the time. Before skirts, I received the looks, the comments and such. Then, I received one type of look, and now it’s different. I receive positive comments, people helping to hold the door and such; yes, even with my children around. It is strange the incredible difference in attitude, but it’s true.
It also changes the attitude towards children. When they wear dresses/skirts, they and I receive many positive comments. When they are wearing shorts and such, again, it’s a different type of response.
This must be something ingrained. Society tries to say otherwise, with TV shows, advertising, even the type of clothing at stores. But there is definitely something, I guess more pleasing to the eye.
Angela, what you mention brings to mind something I read years ago; a lady wrote to a seminary that had written a series of letters on how females should’nt wear anything other than skirts and dresses. She said the letters(though I’m not quoting her verbatim) helped her and her family a great deal. She even said her husband said HE received graces because she ONLY wore skirts and dresses! What I read was powerful beyond words.
Thank you Dwayne. I have noticed additional graces with the skirts (and veiling, though another topic), and I pray one day you will experience such graces as head of a family. Several of my daughters are very aware, and even catch me and remind me, because I must admit, sometimes it’s desirous to meet societal standards and blend in.
Angela, it’s clear you have raised your daughters right. If you have any sons, let’s hope any daughters-in-law you have follow in your footsteps as well. You are an inspiration to all and may God bless you, your husband, and your kids.
Angela, it’s also nice to know you and your daughters cover your heads when you enter churches. Females need to realize 1Cor.11: 4-15 and Canon Law 1262 are to be obeyed; that is, females are required to cover their heads in churches. If only priests and bishops would push this.
Angela, I couldn’t put it better myself. As someone who’d love to be a husband and father someday, I want whoever my wife will be, and any daughters we have, to wear skirts and dresses, and of appropriate length, and zero pants and shorts.
I think pants are fine for casual situations. I think a woman can wear shorts or pants and still be dressed modestly and with dignity and femininity. It just depends on the kind of shorts or pants. I would find it very inconvenient to wear skirts all the time….I find them uncomfortable, and they get caught in bike spokes and other things. I insist on modest clothing for myself and my girls, but we all wear pants and shorts. The key is modesty and feminine dignity, not excluding pants.
Thanks, Laura! Do you have a pic of modest shorts/pants that you feel display “modesty and feminine dignity”? ‘Cuz I think that when you say, “It just depends on the kind of shorts or pants….” we all have an idea in our minds of what we think is modest and dignified.
Colleen, you summed it up beautifully! Far too many gals will make up excuses for wearing pants and shorts. Also, Laura needs to read the study done on male reaction to females in pants. She won’t be able to rid herself(and her daughters) of pants fast enough! Also, trying to find pants/shorts that “display modesty and feminine dignity” is like a man trying to justify wearing skirts, dresses, and other garments that are for females.
Colleen I have to confess I’m a pants wearing woman. I wear long shirts that cover my hips.I feel naked when I wear a dress and I hate wearing panty hose. I just ordered 4 dresses and I’m trying to make that transition . Is there any tips you can give us ladies to make that transition.I found a really good web site Women Within cloths. You can search for the length shirt or sleeve you want. Very modest cloths. With your help I’m trying…
I wore pants exclusively for a number of years, so I know exactly what you mean! Now, I feel so strange in a pair of trousers. It’s all about making the transition! Thanks for the website recommendation! I’m going to check it out!
Colleen, a lot females who used to wear pants could not agree with you more. In fact, the more a female wears skirts and/or dresses, the LESS she wants to wear pants. My sister, who’s a year younger than I am, stopped wearing pants early-to-mid 2003 after I showed her some literature from Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary on feminine dress; the rare time she slips up and wears pants, she cannot put on a skirt or dress fast enough! If only other gals would wake up to reality.
Yesterday, a singer in my choir, although I’m not quoting her verbatim, said, after I noticed she has never worn pants to Mass or even rehearsal(something I can’t say about most of the female singers), that she avoids pants because she does not want to slap Our Lord in the face. Let’s hope(and pray) her influence rubs off on other gals.
i love the first one! ahtolugh i've never worn maxi skirts because i feel i'm too short for it. haha! by the way – i landed on your just mizz j page and i'm likin what i see so far!
Rene, I’m no expert on”maxi-skirts”, but no one is too short or too tall for them.
“Wear a skirt to make a good impression” is such a worthwhile article it ought to be read by everyone. In fact, among the things in a potential mate that can turn me off is if she wears pants and/or shorts.
Years ago, I, an unabashed critic of pants on females, found out that, when females were less likely to wear pants and shorts, the divorce rate was lower than when pants won acceptance with females; I don’t know about others, but I think it’s something to think about…..long and hard!
I wanted to comment, we’ve managed to do everything in more modest skirts -swim”skorts” (with sleeved sport shirts), bicycling in skorts, running, etc. I must confess these mentioned were above the knee, but only about an inch or so. But still not nearly as revealing as shorts are. My girls haven’t found anything they can’t do in them.
These skorts are simple to make, and soooo cheap, but also are becoming quite available and reasonable through various websites.
The more I read “Wear a skirt to make a good impression”, the more I like it. It does much-needed damage to the foundation pro-pants-on-females types build their, for lack of a better term, houses on. After reading that article, I don’t see how anyone can treat pants on females as worthwhile.
If a gal makes a better impression when she wears skirts and dresses than when she wears pants and shorts, I don’t see how we can continue to justify pants on females, much less require our employers to allow females to wear pants. If we have to, for lack of a better term, “stigmatize”, at least socially, pants on females, I’m all for whatever it takes to put society on the right path.
I wonder, how many gals have read this article and given up pants/shorts wearing as a result? I’d like to know.
Colleen, after having read the book “Dressing with Dignity” and gotten to know my share about your journey to modesty, I feel few females are as qualified to a book on modesty as you are. Words defy how great a book “Dressing with Dignity” is and how great a woman you are.
Thank you, Dwayne! Many women have made the same journey and we’re all learning from each other. But thanks all the same for your very kind words!
The points made can’t be emphasized enough. Proof of that is also the fact that too many of us, when we see select gals in pants, they wear them rather form-fitting, and/or they look mannish(and some say pants on females are more modest that skirts and dresses. If that’s true, I have an ocean to sell. In other words, it’s FALSE!
With Lent coming up, I wonder how many gals will give up pants for Lent(that includes shorts, “split skirts”[which are glossed-over pants], and leggings)? I also wonder how many gals have given up pants for what was supposed to be a limited, if sizable, amount of time, only to refuse to wear anything other than skirts and dresses, ever again?
Our prelates ought to read this. Since Dt.22:5 speaks out against the sexes dressing alike, I see some potential for “skirt and dress only” rules for our sees(the only see I know of with such a dress code is Manila; I read about the archbishop instituting such a dress code in mid-2007, and it hasn’t been well-enforced; I saw a picture of mourners in Manila’s cathedral after the passing of Corazon Aquino in 2009, and many females dressed like males)!
Many of the pro-pants-on-females crowd are among the same people who act like science is a be-all and end-all to much of life’s “queeries”. However, the fact that Karen Pine’s article was the result of research may not satisfy some of these people. Also, though it hit me just as I was writing this, I have an easy time believing gals who wear skirts and dresses have more confidence that their butch-dressing counterparts(many pants-wearing gals act like they have to rule the roost, while the skirt and dress wearing are a lot more pleasant to be around; also, the study that got Colleen to give up pants wearing should be read as well).