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Sweden male train drivers wear skirts after shorts row in 2013

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GodAtum

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Mod Note: Article from 2013

A dozen male train drivers in Sweden have circumvented a ban on shorts by wearing skirts to work in hot weather.

The workers, who operate the Roslagsbanan line north of the capital Stockholm, have been wearing skirts to work for the past two weeks.

Employer Arriva banned the drivers from wearing shorts after taking over the running of the line in January.

But the company has given the men its blessing to wear skirts, according to local newspaper Mitti.

"Our thinking is that one should look decent and proper when representing Arriva and the present uniforms do that. If the man only wants [to wear] a skirt then that is OK," Arriva communications manager Tomas Hedenius told the paper.

"To tell them to do something else would be discrimination."

Driver Martin Akersten told the BBC he and his colleagues came up with the idea to wear skirts after they were informed of the new company dress code in the winter.

"We have always said that when summer comes, we will get some skirts and wear them. It's very warm weather here so we would like to wear shorts but if we can't then we have skirts for comfort".

The male drivers have chosen only to wear skirts on hot days, opting for trousers in cooler conditions.

"The passengers stare at us but so far no-one has said anything - well, not to me, anyway. And I don't mind as it's more about comfort," Mr Akersten adds.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22828150

I'm very surprised to hear this as I thought Swedes are quite pragmatic!
 
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superalbs

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Not this again for goodness sake.

Happens in schools too, what a stupid policy.
 

Steve Harris

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Not this again for goodness sake.

Happens in schools too, what a stupid policy.

The only stupid policy is not letting your staff keep cool.

If your not allowed to wear shorts, i say fair play to wearing skirts. Afterall, if your employer bans you from wearing them, they can be dealt with under discrimination laws !!
 

superalbs

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The only stupid policy is not letting your staff keep cool.

If your not allowed to wear shorts, i say fair play to wearing skirts. Afterall, if your employer bans you from wearing them, they can be dealt with under discrimination laws !!
That's exactly what I mean! Why disallow shorts?
 

AM9

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https://www.accuweather.com/en/se/stockholm/314929/month/314929?view=table

It isn't as simple as places far north are cold and places far south are warm. Toronto is as far south as Madrid and they have very different winters!
Actually, Madrid has some pretty cold spells in the winter (albeit mainly dry) owing to it being at c.2000ft asl, and between a range of hills and a mountain range. It is also in the centre of the Iberian peninsular, so relatively remote from warm sea currents. In my working days, there were several visits there with quite severe frosts.
 

MisterT

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Ehm, stupid question, but could someone explain the relevance of a five year old article in 2018? ;)
This was a hot item (yes, pun intended) back in 2013 :E
 

pemma

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Actually, Madrid has some pretty cold spells in the winter (albeit mainly dry) owing to it being at c.2000ft asl, and between a range of hills and a mountain range. It is also in the centre of the Iberian peninsular, so relatively remote from warm sea currents. In my working days, there were several visits there with quite severe frosts.

Madrid might not have winters where the temperature stays above 10oC but it doesn't seem the extremes which Toronto or even New York sees. Toronto saw a day time high of minus 15 on 6th January, while New York saw a day time high of minus 11 on the same date while Madrid's lowest temperature in January was an overnight low of minus 2.
 

Warwick

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On the naughty step again.
Madrid might not have winters where the temperature stays above 10oC but it doesn't seem the extremes which Toronto or even New York sees. Toronto saw a day time high of minus 15 on 6th January, while New York saw a day time high of minus 11 on the same date while Madrid's lowest temperature in January was an overnight low of minus 2.

The point that you're missing is that people don't expect a city in the middle of Spain to be as cold as it is in winter. As pointed out, being 2,000 feet above sea level (making it Europe's highest capital city) means that winters are cold there.
Sweden. I was in Sweden in the summer of 1981 and I can recall being where we were (Trollhattan) being swelteringly hot on the middle of July.
 

AM9

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Madrid might not have winters where the temperature stays above 10oC but it doesn't seem the extremes which Toronto or even New York sees. Toronto saw a day time high of minus 15 on 6th January, while New York saw a day time high of minus 11 on the same date while Madrid's lowest temperature in January was an overnight low of minus 2.
OK. I wasn't trying to outdo you, just pointing out that Madrid is not as warm in winter as some may imagine. That's the thing about continental types of climates*, latitude has much less of an influence than prevailing wind direction.

* Madrid's climate doesn't meet the full definition of a continental climate but unusually for Western Europe, it has a similar but less extreme pattern of temperature variations.
 

pemma

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I think most people accept altitude and distance from the Equator are factors which affect how warm a place is e.g. southern coast in France is warm but the Pyrenees get snow due to the altitude, not because they're further north. However, as demonstrated by johnnychips not everyone realises how much difference there can be in temperature between places the same distance from the Equator as each other even when there's no mountains.
 
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