John,

I never imagined myself defending corporate America, and I wasn't thinking of them when I made my ill-fated attempt at humor on the subject, but I have to point out that their dress code is just as strict for men as it is for women.

You were speaking of women holding or seeking executive positions, and not executive positions at Google or similar corporations. Men in that predicament also have to be extremely carefully and expensively dressed and groomed. People of either gender who are content to remain in the mail-room can dress any way we want.

It's true that there are different rules for men than for women, but the rules for women are not stricter. Women at even the highest pay grades in the most conservative corporations are not required to wear ties. If men were given the option to wear skirts instead of pantsuits, then I'm pretty sure the same standards for shaving of legs would apply.

None of this is to say that there isn't social pressure from the opposite sex to dress a certain way. I've never been required to wear a tie, but I used to wear one occasionally just so that I could enjoy the experience of women flashing big smiles at me instead of the usual show of disinterest or contempt.