Yes, Your Offices Temperature is a Sign of the Patriarchy

Yes, Your Offices Temperature is a Sign of the Patriarchy Is it cold in here? is a question I overhear daily. And real talk its a question I only hear women asking. In fact, just today, I watched a woman in a vest and scarf ask a woman wearing a blanket draped over her shoulders if it welches, indeed, cold in here. Her answer welches Yes.And until I saw Cynthia Nixon requesta warmer debate hall (and the fallout of her asking for what she wanted), I never thought about why women are always asking each other about cold offices. But, oh. Right. We live in a patriarchy.Which means even modern office environments were designed for men.Yep. When building planners set out to decide what the ideal temperature for an office should be, they based it on mens metabolic rates. Reminds me of how clinical trials in medicine have often left out women entirely (and oh mylanta, if you havent, go read chapter one of Doing Harm to learn how absurd this is).And women are left to figure out how to make th e best of a chilly situation.Most of my female coworkers have extra layers at their desks. I keep a sweatshirt, a fuzzy vest, and fingerless gloves in my cubicle. Plus, Ive started incorporating a nicer jacket into my outfit (because boy, do I feel silly wearing a hooded leather bomber to lead a meeting about renaming a product).And you know, my discomfort looking silly in my cold-weather gearmakes sense, since workplace femininity is policed in all sorts of ways). Think about itHigh heels. Spanx. Shaved body bits. Taking up as little space as possible in meetings and in life. Keeping our voices down and at exactly the right register. Not challenging the status quo.While womens discomfort is dismissed...Nevermind that a coworker is wearing a blanket, aelendher one has a Snuggie, and a third has both plus a space heater. In fact, joke about it She must be over-reacting just like all those women wrongly claiming theyre in pain. You know,even though its well documented thatdoctors dont take womens pain seriously.And lets not even consider the fact that women have been taught to be so skeptical of their physical feelings that we ask each other to verify the office is actually cold before we raise a complaint. We must still be overreacting....men arent asked to dealwith discomfort.This makes sense in the context of our patriarchal society. Our world caters to men. From the weight of the water cooler jug to the size and shape of crash test dummies to the pink tax to the gender pay gap to the motherhood penalty/fatherhood bonus to emotional labor falling under the other dutiesthat women routinely juggle in the workplace.Sure, men might say But I never asked for that, or even I want to change this But as Mia MacKenzie at Black Girl Dangerous puts itMen have never been overwhelmingly interested in fighting that fight, because it requires them giving up power, and all evidence suggests thats not their super-fave thing. Share a link about gender equality? Sure Count me i n Give up real power in real ways? Nope, not really.Really, men arent expectedto problem-solve their warmth the way women have to deal with being cold.Every time the temperature-debate heats up (sorry, couldnt resist) in our general Slack channel, a colleague inevitablybrings up the idea that its easier to put more clothes on than take them off. Which elicits an eye roll from the ladies in the office.There are plenty of ways to cool down You could have a tiny desk fan, don a a cooling undershirt (which could go under your, wait for it, short-sleeved button up), and you couldeven wear thin socks. Come on, fellas.Oh, and fun fact the number on the thermostat doesnt tell you much.Last year, Vice talked to University of Oregons Christopher Minson to confirm this.Even if the thermostat is set to a mild temperature, like 72 degrees (t-shirt weather outside) the massive amount of air flow that building operators build into their cooling systems make the rooms feel downright arctic (And wit h no natural sunlight in most offices, we dont pick up any of those toasty electromagnetic rays.)That means, the numbers on your office thermostat dont tell you anything about what it feels like to be in the building. You know,kind of like your SAT score.So, whats a gal to do?First, we can speak up at work, and say without hesitation, Im cold. We can ask for something to be done about it, and thoughtfully offer solutions (hello, Comfy). We can acknowledge that temperature is only part of the issuethe real issue is that modern offices areoptimized to suit only half the workforceAnd we can, again and again, ask to be witnessed and heard.Which brings us back to Cynthia Nixon. She asked for what she wanted, and was verifiably ridiculed for doing so in a way Governor Cuomo would never be.I dont think men intentionally think that their thermostat preference is meant to keep women in their place, but what if they showed some allyship by working with women who request a change?