I was reading SBS News and found this interesting article about how women work better in higher temperatures. Here’s the intro:

Scientists have raised the stakes in the battle of the sexes over office air conditioning by discovering women’s brains work better at higher temperatures.

Men, on the other hand, work better when the temperature is cooler, according to a study published in the journal PLOS One.

The study, conducted in Germany, tested the ability of 500 men and women to perform a series of tasks at a variety of temperatures.

Whilst this does sound fairly generalised, I’m glad that the Germans have finally proved this with a scientific study. Since I started working in offices, I have always felt boiling and have often heard other men complain about the same thing.

It has never made sense to me that we Australian men continue to wear suit pants and jackets in such a warm climate. Add casual Fridays into the mix and you realise that this is purely a meaningless convention, carried over from our British heritage. Here’s a newsflash, people: it’s cold in Britain and quite warm in Australia. Why is it acceptable to wear casual clothing on one day of the week, yet barbaric and offensive on the others? Why must we roast for the sake of appearances?

Now that our Teutonic friends have shown us all the truth, let’s all just agree to wear shorts to work and save our female colleagues from having to freeze when the air-conditioning is turned down…