The temperatures may be soaring outside, but working women are shivering at their desks thanks to the office air conditioning. It’s been dubbed “women’s winter,” since dressing appropriately for the summer weather outside leaves them freezing all day inside. So much for “hot girl summer.”
Women are taking to social media to share their struggles and their corporate chill coping mechanisms, involving blankets, sweaters.
- “I’m currently sitting in my office with a long sleeve shirt on and my space heater on,” Nancy Swain shared on Twitter this week about her Cincinnati, Ohio, office. “It's 80 out. Women's Winter is real.” The data analyst explains that the office AC is set around 70-degrees, but the air blows directly on her and the chilly conditions “make it sometimes difficult to concentrate.”
- “It’s 90 outside but inside we’re freezing,” CBS anchor Heather Abraham shared in a viral TikTok video this week, racking up 3.5-million views. It shows multiple women in her office, each bundled up in blankets and sweaters, and still shivering while working.
- “Solution for corporate women’s winter,” attorney Jill Murphy wrote on a TikTok this week, showing herself wrapped in a fuzzy, cream-colored hooded blanket/robe.
It turns out, there’s a scientific reason women suffer more in the freezing office AC. A 2015 study finds that workplace thermostats are set based on the metabolic rates of men and according to a 2019 study, icy office temperatures actually hinder women’s productivity.
Source: NY Post
Scott's Thoughts:
- Thank goodness for space heaters under the desk and being able to go outside to warm up during lunch!
- Just bring a sweater to put on at your desk. Those of us moving around need it to be cooler.
- In the modern office each workspace can have some control of their climate control. Unless you work in a 25 year old office.