The European Union has recently erupted in debate about the place high heels have, or don't have, in the workplace. The UK Trade Union Council filed several complaints about businesses that required women to wear high heels, saying that they were unhealthy and impractical for day-to-day work wear. Rutgers University anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher says that "when women wear high heels at work they send sexual signals that should be avoided if they want to be taken seriously." The American Podiatric Medical Association says that anything higher than 2 extra inches is "medically unsound." A writer for the British Daily Mail says that in recent years women have reclaimed heels as a source of empowerment instead of oppression, and they should be allowed to keep them.
See "High-heeled women in workplace - too sexy to be serious?", Chicago Sun Times, October 4, 2009