Ban Sisters from wearing pants/slacks!!! Why? Who "wears the pants" at the hall?

by Witness 007 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Witness 007

  In 1979 my mum was studying and came to the meeting in a womens suit with pants/slacks. She was told by her teacher not to wear pants to the meetings only dresses. Well, my mother NEVER WORE PANTS AGAIN....EVER! Thats why today she is a fine upstanding anionted one.

  So, how does this ban work in freezing cold countries? WE had a sister wear pants under her skirt during winter.

  Is this A Rutherford thing? Are these Sisters challenging male authority with pants...."Who wears the pants" at the Kingdumb hall?
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  lilbluekitty

  I didn't live in a freezing cold country but rather New England, and it did get nippy out there. My mom let my sister and I wear leggings under our skirts and a long coat over it so no one would see and for extra warmth.

  Not too long ago I attended my first meeting in months (only to stop going again, perhaps for good this time) and I decided to be "BAD" at wear pants, because my "worldly" husband suggested it and because he said God sees the inner person, not their fancy clothes. Big mistake. Everyone either stared at me, glared at me with hatred or flat out ignored me. The coby (they don't call them presiding overseers anymore, it's the coordinator of the body of elders, a mouthful!) stared at me after he shook my hand in greeting. Someone who didn't know me asked me how long I'd been studying (I've been baptized 8 years!), just because I had pants on. By the way it was a fabulous outfit, perfect for the workplace since they said we're basically supposed to wear business attire. Except I was "evil" because I had on pants. It was modest, it was well-arranged. Black pants, turquoise top, short-sleeved black blazer, pointy-toed heels. Fabulous, like I said :P

  When the meeting was over, I couldn't wait to get out of there, it was like I was in Antarctica, there was no Christian warmth...I've decided though that should I ever come back, I'm going to be at least comfy and wear pants again. LOL.
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  WTWizard

  The witlesses are inflexible in their dress code. Pants are a practical necessity when it gets below freezing or there is a lot of snow or wind. On the flip side, when it is hot and muggy, nylon stockings and a suit coat are not comfortable and can create problems (heat problems with the suit coat, sores and cuts with nylon). Yet, the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger makes no allowances.

  I would like to put those pigs making these rules in the middle of Singapore or Bangkok, when it is close to 40 o C and very humid, and make them wear their suit coats anyways. They will have to work in field circus, like they require everyone else to, from 8 AM (when it is already 30 C out) to 6 PM. Or, make them work in the outback in Australia (it's their problem if they don't know the Aborigine language), in Alice Springs in January when it is around 50 C and the sun is beating down on them. They have to wear dark colored suit coats and matching pants all the while. If they can't last all day, they can't expect anyone else to either.

  On the flip side, I would like to make them work in cold weather with shorts (which are as bad as a dress in cold weather). Let them work in some place like the Fjordland of New Zealand in July (when it can get quite cold and raw with no warning, and it often rains), or London in January when the temperature is about 5 C and it's raining. Or, in Moscow when it is -40 out with a wind speed near 80 km/h (50 MPH). No warming up breaks, and they have to stay out from 8 AM until it gets dark.

  If, after this and they wuss out on field circus during these conditions and with that dress code, they continue insisting on half the people freezing in winter and the other half frying in summer, they deserve permanent assignments in working in field circus under those conditions until they die. Perhaps, if they get moved around so they spend May through September in the deep south of New Zealand or Chile and October through April in Moscow doing field circus in shorts every day, they might welcome some heat (that is, heat from hell).
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  james_woods

  It is pretty obvious that if the WT leadership got the notion that the JW women should wear prairie dresses like the Mormon splinter polygamists -they would obediently wear the prairie dresses.

  They are practically there already, with all the current long-standing rules.
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  lilbluekitty

  I posted about it on Facebook because many of my family is on there who are JWs (they don't know yet I haven't been going to meetings) and I asked a simple question: If we are supposed to look modest and well-arranged, what's wrong with sisters who wear modest pants, the kind women wear to the office?

  It started a firestorm and some of my more pious relatives got very angry and told me all these things about not wearing pants, how it's disrespectful to Jah, that pants are business casual, not formal, etc. Posting scriptures that had very little to do with the subject at hand, etc., upsetting my non-Witness husband into commenting on there himself and getting himself disliked more for it (not that he cares but still) and getting a very long-winded lecture via email from my father, the former elder who told me I shouldn't ask questions like that because it could stumble others and make JWs look bad. Um ya think?

  My body was covered, the pants were not too tight or too baggy, yet they got all bent out of shape at hearing about it. *shakes head*
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  rocky220

  It's a male chauvinist thing.

  rocky220
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  Band on the Run

  Yes, wearing skirts automatically imparts deference. Regardless of born temperament or feminist ideas, a woman in skirts is a spent force. I recall the photos of abolitonist women and the Suffragettes. Woman have worn pants for many decades now. Apostate ideas reside in the garb, not the mind or soul. Some corporations don't let women wear pantsuits. A glimpse of stocking was something shocking. Anything goes.
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  troubled mind

  Cause they are idiots ! and a cult ....pant hating cultists ...

  I do live in an area where winter is freezing .I use to wear pants under my long winter coat with the legs tucked into my snow boots so no one could really know . I still had comments of how this could stumble someone ,but I have always had a stubborn streak and did what I wanted anyways .

  I always thought it was alot of nonsense "no pants ' for women . We use to have these two sisters in the early 1980's that loved a nice pantsuit . Both were in their 70's and would be chastized by our 30 yr old book study conductor for wearing the pantsuits to BS. It got so bad they would give local need talks about it I think they got some reproval for it eventually just for direpecting the Elders counsel . Those ladies were so liberated ,I never understood why they wanted to be Witnesses ...
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  james_woods

  Some corporations don't let women wear pantsuits.

  Can you name one, other than the WTBTS or maybe Hooter's Restaurants?

  I can assure you that I work for a fortune 100 U.S. corporation that is famous for conservative dress code and they have no such rule.
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  talesin

  I agree, James Woods.

  The only place I worked that demanded a dress was a restaurant, and the owner was a sexist PIG (I mean that,,,he would fondle waitresses, make filthy comments, disgusting!).

  Any Corporate Office (Mobil Oil, Exxon, NS Power, MT&T) expected women executives to dress like men -- suits, whether dress or pant, made no difference.

  Business attire for non-executives has become even more casual in most sectors.

  tal