Why is it awkward when men wear women's clothing whilst it is completely normal for women to wear men's clothes at work and home?
The Context: Conversation with my 12 year old son
We were watching cricket match on TV, it all started when my son started comparing Messi's and Neymar's pay at PSG to Virat Kohli's at RCB, then he turned around and asked about my salary and whether it is same as his mum's salary given that both of us have the same academic qualifications.
I used all my diplomatic skills to answer "Son, footballers have a lot more zeros in their salary". It also gave us an opportunity to discuss about the disproportional impact of parenting on women's career and gender pay gap.
I politely taught him that it was not nice to ask others their salary or age. His defence was quick, "I am evaluating my career options, I took liberty to ask parents but I am sensible, I can always Google you know". Fair enough, Google is certainly the alt parent for this generation.
Unexpectedly his next question was "Why is it awkward when men wear women's clothing whilst it is normal for women to wear men's clothes at work and home?"
That was an odd question but it is true - it is completely normal for women to wear shirts, shorts, suits et al but it will feature in BBC evening NEWS when boys wear skirts to school or men wear dress to office.
It got me thinking. It is impossible to find any photo of women wearing men's clothing before World War II. Historically, jobs were strictly categorized by gender, women were only considered for nursing, elementary teaching and administrative opportunities.
Modernisation and rapid development in technology after WW II opened up lot of more opportunities for women. I suspect women started dressing in men's attire after 1950's to visually change the perception and to fit into the men's world.
It would have been awkward for the pioneering women to go to work in suits or trousers. It has taken a long time to "normalize" for this generation but there is still lot more work required to break the "Glass Ceiling".
On the contrary, there is no such thing as "Kitchen Ceiling" for men to break, there is no necessity for men to change perception, I suspect that is the reason awkwardness prevails.
There is no universal "Normal" or "Abnormal", it is a collective choice by the society to normalise or ostracise certain practices. It changes over time and it varies by location. Scottish kilt in Delhi is as abnormal as Dhoti in Edinburgh.
Until now, physical community defined "Normal" but not any more. One might physically live in rural hinterlands but spend most of their time connected to virtual community. The transition is bound to be tumultuous.
Normality is what you are used to and not to be confused with "Right or Wrong", it varies in time, physical and digital axis.
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