Lifting shorts and wearing skirts

Male staff on Swedish commuter trains achieved a win for their rights at work last week by wearing ladies skirts to work.

Around 15 male train drivers and other staff wore skirts on the suburban Roslagsbanan train service to circumvent a ban on shorts.

Staff pointed to summer temperatures of up to 35 degrees in their work environment as the reason for wanting shorts to be made part of the uniform.

Tomas Hedinus, a spokesman for Arriva, said on Sunday of their uniform policy “Our policy is that you have to look well dressed and proper when representing Arriva, and that means trousers if you’re a man and a skirt if you’re a woman, but no shorts.”

After the men received such positive attention and strong support for their cross-dressing demonstration, Arriva revised their stance; “We received so many suggestions from our staff, and we listened to them and decided to change our minds on this issue,” said Arriva spokesman.

What wasn’t addressed in their statement was whether or not any of the men had decided to stick with the skirts after the reportedly positive feedback from commuters.