Job Discussion Forums

[veiledsentiments]

Are you female? My ankles pretty much always showed... never wore socks or hose.

VS

[spicegirl]

Wordsmsith, are you male or female? If you're male, how short are your trousers ....? This isn't Victorian England here, where the sight of an ankle gives the population a touch of the vapours.

[wordsmith]

I never thought I'd be concerned about showing ankles! It's great news that both male and female ankles can be seen without giving people, as you say, the vapors.

[hamergirl]

I think this information is pretty outdated. I think the work dress code has become more professional over the past few years - tailored clothes are fine now. I'm not saying hot pants or anything, but as long as you look professional (and it's not sleeveless or above the knee) it's really not a problem.

[carlen]

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[veiledsentiments]

It would be interesting how they would want to change this top carlen. My dress code matched yours for my years there and I wouldn't have changed it no matter what others thought had changed.

VS

[hamergirl]

I'm in Al Ain at UAEU. I find that the students respond better to me when I'm dressed in a more western professional style than long dowdy skirts. Much of the academic culture here is based on expectations - and I think students these days expect a more professional dress. I've actually had students ask me "Why does Miss so and so dress like that?" in reference to a western teacher who wore to the floor skirts and long tunics everyday. The times are a changin' here in Al Ain - everytime I go out I'm a bit shocked at what young girls are wearing - and I'm talking about expat Arab girls, not westerners for the most part. I've also discussed this topic with my female students many times, asking them how they felt about the skimpily clad women in their country and the response has ALWAYS been the same :"Miss, why would we care? They can dress like they like and we dress like we like." Most of these students are from more conservative areas of the UAE.

[spicegirl]

The female students at UAEU have always been particularly interested in what their female teachers wear. I remember when I first came to work there, many years ago, students would often comment that the expat English teachers dressed like housemaids .... by that, they meant that we wear cotton skirts and tops, which by their standards was an inferior fabric They much preferred the 'new' synthetic fabrics which shone and glimmered, making them sweat and giving them a rash on their face where the synthetic shaila rubbed them in the heat.

As Hamergirl says, things have changed a lot here in Al Ain, and at the university, female students often comment favourably on teachers who are wearing more 'western' clothes, such as skirt suits and trouser suits. It's no longer necessary to wear ankle length skirts or very loose tops, though these are often the most comfortable in the heat.

There is much more of an attitude of 'live and let live' these days, though it only takes one very traditional student to object to something you're wearing. When teaching the male students, it's more important to make sure that your dress isn't seen as 'provocative' - and believe me, it's not difficult for any of your clothes to seem provocative to some of these male students I was recently told by a female Emirati colleague to avoid wearing red on the male campus .... didn't really get an explanation as to why, but I assume that it must send out some sort of 'here I am' signal.

[spicegirl]

The female students at UAEU have always been particularly interested in what their female teachers wear. I remember when I first came to work there, many years ago, students would often comment that the expat English teachers dressed like housemaids .... by that, they meant that we wear cotton skirts and tops, which by their standards was an inferior fabric They much preferred the 'new' synthetic fabrics which shone and glimmered, making them sweat and giving them a rash on their face where the synthetic shaila rubbed them in the heat.

As Hamergirl says, things have changed a lot here in Al Ain, and at the university, female students often comment favourably on teachers who are wearing more 'western' clothes, such as skirt suits and trouser suits. It's no longer necessary to wear ankle length skirts or very loose tops, though these are often the most comfortable in the heat.

There is much more of an attitude of 'live and let live' these days, though it only takes one very traditional student to object to something you're wearing. When teaching the male students, it's more important to make sure that your dress isn't seen as 'provocative' - and believe me, it's not difficult for any of your clothes to seem provocative to some of these male students I was recently told by a female Emirati colleague to avoid wearing red on the male campus .... didn't really get an explanation as to why, but I assume that it must send out some sort of 'here I am' signal.

[007]

[veiledsentiments]

My dress code was as much for my own comfort as anything else. If I were back in the US, it would be jeans and cotton tops for summer, cotton sweaters (or sweatshirts) for winter. My wardrobe both then and now is 100% cotton. I'm into neither fashion nor the dress for success look... never have been. My wardrobe evolved into what made me comfortable... both in the temperature and in the culture.

Yes, I am aware of the female students who considered our wardrobes frumpy and why did *they* dress this way, and I always had to laugh when they would ask that question... of me. That has always been true. For my style, their biggest concern seemed to be that I didn't wear enough eye liner.

I agree with the 'it only takes one student to complain' situation. Especially now as the transition to broader acceptance is moving faster. That is why erring on the side of frumpy isn't a bad thing. Also, the vast majority of my teaching was with integrated classrooms, so most of the time, I was teaching men.

VS
(PS: I never heard anything about the color red...)

[007]

[veiledsentiments]

In the US, we have closets... they are built-in... and if you have a very old house and you need more area to store your wardrobe, you buy a wooden cabinet that is normally called here an armoire.

Thus, we use only the second and third definition of wardrobe in the dictionary.

VS

[spicegirl]

Ooh 007, what are you like ... You've got us laughing in the aisles.

[carlen]

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