Women have thrown their support behind a British receptionist who was sent home from work after showing up without high heels.
Last week 27-year-old Londoner Nicola Thorpe was told she needed to change into two-inch heels after turning up for her first day at professional accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in flats.
After refusing to buy a pair of heels, she was sent home without pay.
The backlash was swift, with politicians and feminist groups leaping to Thorpe’s defence.
On Friday morning, women’s rights charity The Fawcett Society launched the hashtag #FawcettFlatsFriday, and encouraged women to post photos of their flats at work.
Hundreds of women duly posted pictures of their flat shoes on social media, including UK Labor MP Stella Creasy and Women’s Equality party founder Catherine Mayer.
An online petition calling for the law to be changed to prevent companies from requiring women to wear high heels has already attracted over 135,000 signatures.
Meanwhile, PricewaterhouseCoopers has insisted it does not require women to wear high heels – even tweeting its support of The Fawcett Society’s social media campaign.
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