“Office’s Stairs Are See-Thru”: 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women

The average person spends about one third of their lifetime at work. So if there’s anything that makes you feel uncomfortable in your work environment, that can take a huge toll on you. It's not easy to do a great job when your fingers are numb from a freezing cold office, and your feet are constantly aching from being required to wear heels. There are plenty of things that can affect how "at home" you feel in the office, especially if you’re a woman…

Women have been detailing on Reddit all of the small things that can go a long way in making a workplace feel less hostile, and every CEO should be taking notes. From making parents’ lives easier to providing sanitary products in the restrooms, we’ve gathered the most spot-on responses down below. Keep reading to also find an interview with Miki Feldman Simon, founder of IamBackatWork, and be sure to upvote the replies you agree with.

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"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Please no required heels!

Sirendimensions , Dana Tentis Report

Final score:

157points

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To gain more insight on this topic, we reached out to Miki Feldman Simon. Miki is an Executive Coach and the founder of IamBackatWork, which was created to empower people with practical advice, tools and skills to accelerate their personal and professional growth. Lucky for us, Miki was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda about the ways in which workplaces often prioritize the desires of men over the concerns and needs of women.

"We see this in simple things like office temperature, often set to be way too cold for women, or fun activities aimed towards men, like football games or social events held after office hours when women often need to be home to care for their kids," Miki shared. "Systemically, men are often given more opportunities for career advancement and higher salaries, while women face challenges such as gender-based discrimination, unequal pay, and a lack of support for family responsibilities."

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Eliminate sexist jokes from the workplace. Stop saying periods are disgusting and inappropriate when you’re a 35 year old male supervisor.

Alternative-Water-50 , Yan Krukau Report

Final score:

157points

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"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women My old job had a box of good-to-have stuff in ALL restrooms. They were unisex, so there was both tampons, pads, pantyliners, spray deodorant in two different fragrances ("male" and "female"), hairspray, dental floss sticks and such.

T'was a good thing.

dumhuvud , Sarah Report

Final score:

136points

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"I always had extra layers at the office to account for freezing temperatures," Miki told Bored Panda. "As the only woman in the management team, I would often feel like an outsider when the discussion would revolve around sports. For years, I had to decline the drinks after work and go home to my kids. The men bonded and built deeper relationships. They all had kids at home too. It was their wives responsibility to be there for them."

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Make it easier for women to take sick time for reproductive health issues. I've dealt with fibroids for years now and it would've been nice if I felt comfortable enough on my worse days to take time off to rest.

Don't assign a woman the social tasks of the office unless she volunteers to. Not every woman wants to keep track of birthdays, bridal showers and baby showers.

Carolinablue87 , Sora Shimazaki Report

Final score:

131points

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"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Easy access to a bathroom. Meaning no asking for a key or having to ask people before going to the bathroom. Also a trash can right next to the toilet and maybe some emergency period products

Luwe95 , Natracare Report

Final score:

127points

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When it comes to what workplaces should be doing to ensure that women feel comfortable, Miki says they should assess where they are not meeting women’s needs and where they are not providing equal opportunities. "They should prioritize diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as offering flexible work arrangements, providing equal pay for equal work, addressing gender-based discrimination and harassment, providing access to leadership and mentorship opportunities for women, and offering family-friendly policies such as parental leave and child care support," she told Bored Panda.

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women If someone is talking down to your coworkers/employees for being a woman, support them.

I had a customer insult my knowledge because I'm a woman. So my male coworker bartender went to serve them. He played dumb to the questions, asked me and repeated the answer I gave him which I said loud enough for the person to hear came from my mouth first.

That gained all my love and respect because most places are like you're in customer service "deal with it". Here the customer isn't always right and they don't get to treat people like punching bags.

TenaciousToffee , Timur Weber Report

Final score:

125points

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"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women This is dumb as hell but my office’s stairs are see-thru because I’m in billing for EnGiNeEriNg, so folks wearing dresses to go upstairs have to be clever about how they do it.

lilacpointsiamese , Hubert Figuière Report

Final score:

119points

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"It's essential for everyone to feel equally included in their work environment because it leads to greater job satisfaction, higher levels of employee engagement and productivity, and a more positive workplace culture overall," Miki added. "A workplace that values diversity and inclusion benefits everyone, not just women, by creating a more supportive and collaborative environment."

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women There’s been stories of women being fired from their office jobs for refusing to wear make up or heels to work, which obviously has no effect on how they work

mattpel1 , Samson Katt Report

Final score:

119points

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"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Women in power putting down the rest of us and acting like snakes, this is not a competition, we dont want your place, we just want to get our coin without feeling the need to cry over a toxic environment other women create. We are in this together, its already hard to live in a mens world, why some women feel the need to make it harder.

mjigs , Vlada Karpovich Report

Final score:

108points

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"We all need to be invested in making a change and creating an environment that is just as welcoming to women as it is to men," Miki says. "In addition to workplace policies, it's essential for individuals to be aware of their own biases and to actively work to create a more inclusive workplace culture. Everyone can play a role in promoting diversity and inclusion by listening to diverse perspectives, respecting differences, and challenging stereotypes and biases."

If you'd like to learn more about Miki or gain some guidance for how to further your own career, be sure to visit IamBackatWork right here.

#10

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women I'm just going to be THAT PERSON: the best thing to make it inclusive is openness about and equality in regards with pay.

TenNinetythree , Tima Miroshnichenko Report

Final score:

102points

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#11

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women If there is a dresscode, make it universal. Same rules for all.

anon , Thirdman Report

Final score:

101points

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#12

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women A clean place for pumping! Telling a lot woman she needs to pump in the bathroom stall definitely creates an unwelcome feeling.

grumpybumpkin , twitter.com Report

Final score:

84points

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#13

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Well if the IT dept in the international company I work for, where every new employee has to go to get their laptop, could take down the calendars (plural) featuring naked women, that would be great (yea, i already filed a complaint, call me a stuck-up bi*ch)

alterega1 , www.ebay.com Report

Final score:

83points

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Susanna Vesna 1 year ago

Easy solution - put up posters of your topless favourite male actors. Make them beer-bellied old dudes insecure! ;)

39points

TotallyNOTaFox 1 year ago (edited)

Most men wouldn't care honestly, it's usually that women in a company just don't hang up such posters / calendars. (Personally I don't understand the necessity of such things being at the workplace)

15points

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R Dennis 1 year ago

Honestly, that would not have the same affect. Most men couldn't care less. The complaint is the right way to go.

11points

Stylishsidewaysbird 1 year ago

I’d put pants-less, gigantic (you know what I mean), attractive men up there. I don’t claim to know a lot about men but I do know that they believe size matters and they behave accordingly. Guaranteed the small super misogynistic man would complain the fastest 🤷🏼‍♀️

6points

WonderWoman 1 year ago

In my experience, old dudes tend to think they look amazing naked, lol.

3points

ravenclawnerd 1 year ago

I get where you are coming from, but I think the issue isn't that it makes women feel insecure, but rather uncomfortable. It is sexualization and innappropiate for a work environment.

2points

Fembot 1 year ago

No because then neither of you would act professionally

1point

TruthoftheHeart 1 year ago

Nah what you do is find the best sexy Chippendale/sexy firefighters etc posters and calendars.

0points

Ali H M Salehuddin 1 year ago

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Lace Neil 1 year ago

One place where I used to work, the men kept putting up topless posters despite being asked not to. So we women went around with sharpies and drew high necked blouses on all the posters. The guys soon got the message and stopped.

6points

Sponge Blob 1 year ago

And everybody clapped.

1point

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N. 1 year ago

In America, this is illegal and called a hostile work environment. Contact the EEOC.

5points

TeenieMeanie 1 year ago (edited)

Start hanging some major dong. Turnabout is fair play.

5points

Amy Semenov 1 year ago

Again. Illegal.

3points

AK to LV 1 year ago

I was the only female engineer in an firm of 25 engineers. The amount of swimsuit calendars in the offices was unreal.

3points

2picklesinabun 1 year ago (edited)

That is 100% a very very few places thing. And by few, I mean yours lol..

3points

Tim Martin 1 year ago

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#14

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Temperature in the office must be suitable for everybody. Very often women and their health suffer because the temperature in offices is set to accommodate the male body.

A period products dispenser in the ladies‘ toilets is always welcome.

Ceasing to treat women like informal secretaries would make a difference. No, Cassie doesn’t have to write the protocol to the meeting. Neither should Jenny be responsible with organizing the team building or office party. Samantha doesn’t have to gather the money for Chris‘ birthday present and spend her own personal time buying his gift on behalf of the team just because „she’s really good at it.“

Phigwyn , Dan LeFebvre Report

Final score:

77points

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#15

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Making things that actually fit.

I work construction. We're given protective gear and most of it is too big for the women on site, and all the while they tell you that wearing baggy clothing is dangerous. We're all given rain gear and they have sizes up to 4xl but they don't buy smalls, so mine doesn't fit. They don't order small gloves. They don't order small harnesses. They gave us all congratulatory jackets for reaching a particular milestone. Mine is too big.

It seems small but it turns into a nagging reminder that you don't belong and that "this place isn't made for you"

Just making sure that you have access to the right equipment goes miles and i think people will do a better job when they feel heard and respected. How can i expect to do a good job when my gloves don't even fit properly?

typeyhands , Allan Mas Report

Final score:

77points

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#16

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women It’s all the behaviour of men so I don’t know how to change that but the small things I would love to see go, are:

- being called “love” “sweetheart” or “darling” by my older male co-workers
- being touched on the waist in order to get my attention rather than tapping my shoulder or calling my name
- male bosses casually referring to their “b***h” ex wives and their “whore” ex girlfriends to the other men in the room while I have to pretend I’m not there
- when a department that has a female boss or a mostly female team is doing something and it’s “the girls are doing their thing” but every other department is “the team working hard”.
- all the older women in work being mocked and told they’re “getting too old for this job” by men that aren’t that much younger than them
- everything to do with cleaning and tidiness is left for female colleagues, even if it isn’t their job.
- male colleagues coming to ask for advice and emotional support and to listen to their problems but never returning that effort or offering a real friendship. Basically being their free therapist. And if you don’t want to listen, you’re a “cold b***h”.
- when a woman is hard to work with or bad at her job, there’s a smugness amongst the men because they see it as evidence that women aren’t up for the higher positioned jobs.
- when a woman gets promoted, I have to hear all the men have conversations about how she only got it because she’s a woman
- when I make complaints about co-worker harassing me, I’m told to “talk it out” with them, as if I’m the one making a problem.
- co-workers that are old enough to be my dad, staring at my chest non stop and everyone defending him because “he’s a laugh”.

thanarealnobody , Yan Krukau Report

Final score:

69points

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#17

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women - Bins for tampons and pads by the toilets. That preferably also are sound proofed and not right to someone's office...

- I think most humans are unhappy in open offices. I know I would detest it.

eiroai , Karolina Grabowska Report

Final score:

67points

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#18

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Flexible work schedules. Make it possible for a parent to leave at 4:30 to pick up their kids from school. And sick leave. Women are more likely than men to have to leave work to care for a sick child or parent. Don’t punish them for that, it’s society’s doing.

MuppetManiac , MART PRODUCTION Report

Final score:

66points

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#19

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Life outside the office is horrendously imbalanced for women. We do most of the housework and childcare.

My office is 100% work from home and 100% flexible hours. As long as you log all required hours within the pay period (2 weeks) and attend your client meetings you can work whenever you want.

The men are like, "neat" but the women are like, "thank you this makes a huge difference in my life."

rf-elaine , Liliana Drew Report

Final score:

57points

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#20

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Decent parental leave policies make it more inclusive to women.

anon , Sarah Chai Report

Final score:

54points

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#21

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Bigger toilets for women: normally in workplaces both toilets occupy an equal area. The thing is that women need more time on the toilet, as we have to deal with periods etc. Also, we can only use a WC, so, if we have the same space as in a men's toilet, inevitably less WCs are going to fit in the room. Probably it's sounds silly, so let me put a personal example: when I was in College, after some classes, it was very common for the women to take longer to get to the next class than men, as we almost always have to wait to use the toilet.

Also tampons etc in toilets, as someone commented, are a great idea.

And another silly idea: adapting spaces thinking on the different heights between men and women, in my job I'm the only one who needs a stool to reach certain tools, and some times I even need to ask for help. Now that I think about it, I need also a footrest in my desk due to the height of the table, as my feet don't touch the ground even in high heels lol

Also is fundamental to have a clear politic about sexual harassment, but that's another story.

EyoneGa , Darina Belonogova Report

Final score:

45points

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#22

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women A well-balanced number of men and women on all levels of hierarchy usually does the trick.

schwarzmalerin , Alena Darmel Report

Final score:

45points

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#23

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women When chairing meetings, have a way of ensuring that people who have something to contribute, will be heard when they do so.

It happens far too often that a woman or a new team member is cut off part way through expressing something, only for a more senior or male coworker to say the same thing later and get all of the credit for it. It’s rare that the person bringing it up later will hand the credit back; even rarer for someone to say “I’d like to hear more about what [original idea presenter] was saying earlier about [idea], would you mind?”

By doing this, you’re also fostering talent by making sure employees feel heard, and are recognized for what they contribute.

kellerae , fauxels Report

Final score:

42points

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#24

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Be actively inclusive of women in your space. I work in STEM and am often the only woman on the team. I am by default not included in informal social, team building things like grabbing lunch together, a drink after work etc. When someone doesn't look like to rest of you, it's important to actively include them.

It's not enough to not be excluding of them, you need to actively be inclusive of them.

recyclopath_ , fauxels Report

Final score:

41points

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#25

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Pumping room with a soft, comfortable chair, and easily accessible electrical outlets.

Better yet, onsite childcare who will bring your baby to you a few times a day to breastfeed.

searedscallops , MART PRODUCTION Report

Final score:

35points

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#26

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women More inclusive:

* flexibility of work hours/sick time (so that those with bad periods, monthly migraines, etc can adapt work schedules accordingly)

More hostile:

* discouragement of open and honest discussions about salary and/or hourly wages and bonuses

Doon672 , Cristian Tarzi Report

Final score:

28points

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#27

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women My workplace is pretty good for this. Putting aside physical workplace issues, flexibility around childcare issues are a big thing. If a school age kid gets sick, allowing a parent to work from home so they can stay with them and other things like that help so much.

peppermind , Anastasia Shuraeva Report

Final score:

26points

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#28

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Ask everyone, ideally through an anonymous survey, what they would like to see to make the office more inclusive. Sometimes individual offices have things you wouldn't see on some standard list.

Scopeexpanse , Pixabay Report

Final score:

22points

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#29

"Office's Stairs Are See-Thru": 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women Keep the temperature turned up a degree or two higher than the “normal”. Goes for heater and AC.

My last workplace was all men, no matter what I wore I got cold sitting at the computer all day. My nails would turn blue fairly often, especially after I ate. I eventually left that office bec I was cold all day, everyday, year in, year out, and the male coworkers just kept making it colder. It’s miserable, and I felt like all my energy went into trying to stay warm. I even brought a heating pad to work. I tried using a space heater for my feet but it made my male coworkers in the next cubicle too warm.

Room temps are often set to men’s comfort level in an office space, not women’s.

salmonsashimiplease , thermostat Report

Final score:

21points

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What do you think ?

Alecto76 1 year ago

This is just me, but don't bring babies to the office and get offend if I, a woman, am not enthusiastic about seeing your baby or am hiding in my office. I like you fine and I'm happy for you, but babies make me nervous. I don't know what to say about them - I'm not an expressive person, so the best you get is congrats on a nice baby. Its painfully awkward and I'd just rather not.

Freya the Wanderer 1 year ago

Too many women bring babies to the office because a) the U.S. has NO mandated maternity leave, and b) childcare is expensive AF.

Robyn Rob 1 year ago

at my first office job there was a glass desk and my boss remarked that he was glad because he could see my skirt through it. I was uncomfortable but didn’t know I had rights. I left soon after

9points

gmf 1 year ago

So concepts such as health & safety, basic sanitation, minimum 6 months statutory maternity leave, not being a misogynistic arsehole, and not being regarded as slave labour are alien concepts where this list was compiled?

4points

Admiralu 1 year ago

Employers not able to deny time off for childfree women or asking us to cover for parents. Just because you don't have kids doesn't mean you don't have family.

Sophia Athene 5 months ago

Why can't it just be an equal number of days off period? That way childless-by-choice women and men are not forced to make up for employees with children. If you want your days off to be mental health days, stay at home with your sick kid day, migraine day, menstruation issues day, your child's kindergarten graduation day, etc. It's a personal day that does not need to be justified. Therefore, no family days, just a personal day.

Craig Reynolds 1 year ago

As far as being accommodating to parents, that should NEVER include the expectation for childless and or single coworkers to adjust their schedule, time off, alter their vacation plans, or do anything to accommodate a parent and their expense. Do not ask to donate their time off either. One person's life choices are not anyone else's to accommodate.

2picklesinabun 1 year ago

Becky Samuel 1 year ago

As another woman (not sure why you felt the need to specify), your comment is nonsense. When I entered the workplace in the 1980s the attitude was that removing nudie calendars would " never happen". But of course it did. The same could be said for the continuous low-level sexual assaults and harassment, name-calling against homosexual men, use of racial slurs etc. The subject of office temperatures is something that has been widely discussed because it is a genuine problem, and good building designers are now taking it into account much more on new builds, especially now that zonal heating is a preferred option because of the energy savings. Giving people a comfortable work environment is one of the easiest ways of increasing productivity and decreasing staff turnover, both of which are major costs to the company.

13points

“Office’s Stairs Are See-Thru”: 29 Things That Make Offices Uncomfortable For Women

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