“I like being a woman, even in a man’s world.  After all, men can’t wear dresses, but we can wear the pants.” – Whitney Houston

I simply love the flexibility and option of wearing dresses or pants.  When I want to feel feminine I can pull out my tulle skirts to be as as girly as I want.  On the other hand when I want to feel bold and authoritative, I break out my trousers.  When I was very young, I wasn’t allowed to wear trousers for religious reasons, so I can really appreciate being able to wear them now.

I was surprised to learn in general that trousers weren’t always acceptable for women to wear.  Below are some interesting facts I found on Wikipedia about women wearing trousers.

• In 1919, Luisa Capetillo challenged the mainstream society by becoming the first woman in Puerto Rico to wear trousers in public. She was sent to jail for what was then considered to be a “crime”, but the judge later dropped the charges against her.
• Starting in the 1920s and 30s, women increasingly wore trousers as leisurewear, and in the early 20th century female pilots and other working women often wore trousers.
• Katharine Hepburn as well as other actresses were often photographed in trousers from the 1930s. During World War II, women working in industrial work in war service wore their husbands’ (suitably altered) trousers, and in the post-war era trousers were still common casual wear for gardening, socialising, and other leisure pursuits.
• In the 1960s, André Courrèges introduced jeans for women, leading to the era of designer jeans.
• In 1969 Rep. Charlotte Reid (R-Ill.) became the first woman to wear trousers in the U.S. Congress.
• Pat Nixon was the first American First Lady to wear trousers in public, and Hillary Clinton was the first woman to wear trousers in an official U.S. First Lady portrait.
• For a period in the 1970s, trousers became quite fashionable for women. In the U.S, this may be due to the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which ruled that dresses could not be required of girls.  As a result, dress codes changed in public schools across the United States.
• In 1989 California state senator Rebecca Morgan became the first woman to wear trousers in a U.S. state senate.
• Women were not allowed to wear trousers on the U.S. Senate floor until 1993.  In 1993, two senators wore trousers onto the floor in defiance of the rule, and female support staff followed soon after, with the rule being amended later that year by Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Martha Pope to allow women to wear trousers on the floor so long as they also wore a jacket.
• Since 2004 the International Skating Union has allowed women to wear trousers instead of skirts in competition if they wish.
• In 2012 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police began to allow women to wear trousers and boots with all their formal uniforms.

Reading the timeline of these facts made me realize how something we take for granted these days was so much of a struggle for women.  I’m really glad society has changed its stance on women wearing pants.  It’s so refreshing to know when they say, “she wears the pants,” they mean it!

Photography by:  Em Grey Photography

//Tiffany Hat// (Eric Javits)

//Sleeveless Long Vest// (Katherine Barclay) Similar here or here

//Slim Plaid Skimmer Trousers// (Crosby from TJ Maxx) Similar here

//Pointed-Toe Patent Oxford Bootie// (Guess)