Women’s fashion is notoriously infamous for screwing women out of places to put their essentials: phones, wallets, etc. When women’s clothing contains any type of pocket, it usually fits nothing more than a stick of gum inside... if the pocket even opens at all. This is forcing women to carry a bag of some sort. On the other hand, men’s fashion contains a plethora of pockets: on jackets, coats, jeans, dress pants, and shorts.
Is this inconvenient difference merely just a style call, or does this lead to a bigger issue of a still very prominent sexist culture in the fashion industry?
History of Pockets
In the 17th century, pockets had already been around for men, but the 'hanging pocket' had been invented for women. This prompted woman to buy them and sew them into their dresses, wear them around their waists, or under their dresses. These hanging pockets quickly went out of style when they became difficult to find; so while men still were able to carry things inconspicuously, women had to find a new idea to carry their belongings.
When the 19th century rolled around, the purse was born. Small, elaborately sewn pieces of fabric were made and held by women of the highest class, symbolizing they are only carrying a small item or two, never any money or things that insinuated they were women who needed to work. A woman who carried a large bag would be one in poverty. The large bag stood for the fact that she needed to carry things to and from work, because she could not afford to stay home while her husband worked; therefore leading to a poverty label.
The fashion industry today, while maybe ridding itself of the class-labels due to purse size, still consists of high-end purses vs. ‘cheap’ purses, that allow a woman to be labeled and judged by other women, and still having a symbol that points out they are. In fact, a woman must carry a purse just to keep her essentials on hand. Not to mention this lead to a multi-billion-dollar purse industry that traps women into believing they must spend thousands of dollars for one designer purse (Louis Vuitton, we’re looking at you).
Although there are some designers who believe flat-out that if women’s clothing had pockets, it lead to less attractive pieces of clothing, there is also the issue of where the pocket would actually be placed. Because of the tight nature of women’s jeans, it’s almost impossible to place a pocket in the same spot as a man’s jean pant. But to put them higher, would lead women to have a pocket that draws so much attention to their hips and butt; which is not something women necessarily enjoy doing. So what’s left?
This sexist nature of forcing women to carry a purse because otherwise they have to hold their phones, wallets, etc., not only lies in the lack of pockets, but in the style of women’s popular fashion vs. men’s popular fashion all together. It seems to be a never ending vicious circle of how men will always have it easier than women because of the patriarchy we live in. Even if pockets or holsters were added to women’s clothing now, there would still be the issue of getting the idea to catch on and become mainstream. So the circle continues.
