Some companies want women to wear high heels. Here's why they shouldn't

In jobs where employees are judged by their appearance, women, more often than not are asked to strut in high heels.

According to a research by University of Aberdeen, women who are asked to wear high heels at work are prone to developing musculoskeletal conditions and the chance of injury.

The academics who carried out the study have asked employers in the UK to stop forcing women to wear high heels at workplace.

More needs to be done to stop women being forced to wear high heels at work, University of Aberdeen researchers said.

The issue of women being forced to wear high heels for certain jobs caught public attention in UK earlier this year when receptionist Nicola Thorp was sent home for wearing flat shoes at work.

Thorp began a petition which attracted more than 152,400 signatures asking for it to be made illegal for companies to require women to wear the footwear for their jobs.

However, the UK Government rejected calls for a ban on enforced high heel at workplace saying 'existing laws are adequate to deal with discrimination.'

The researchers compared the response of the UK Government with that of the Canadian province of British Columbia, which has amended the law that prohibits employers from forcing women to wear high heels.

Dr Max Barnish, who led the research said: "From our review it is clear that despite the huge amount of evidence showing heels are bad for individuals' health, there are complex social and cultural reasons that make high heel wearing attractive."

"Of course we are not trying to tell anyone that they should or shouldn't wear high heels but we hope this review will inform wearers to help them weigh up the health risks with social benefits," said Dr Heather Morgan, a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen.

She added that it was hoped the review would "put pressure on law makers to toughen up legislation so that no-one is forced against their will to wear them in the workplace or in licensed public social venues".