Temperature wars in office: Hell may not freeze over but women might!

My friend Nikita who is 25, says that her palms are constantly cold when they are in a meeting and it always feels like winter in the office. Another friend Ishani, who is 27, would complain about how an oversized jacket put off her office look because she couldn’t do without it. As for me, I would only daydream about trekking snow-capped hills, until that beautiful moment was shattered by an office phone call.

If you share our sentiments, then you might have often wondered why office temperatures seem to be set to freeze you, but the men in the office strut about in their “normal” office clothes, fighting to take control of the AC remote to decrease the temperature. Well, wonder no more, because the answer might lie in a research conducted by the University of Maastricht, Netherlands. Researchers Boris Kingma and Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt have revealed to the world that air conditioning in offices is actually set to a man's comfort! How you may ask. Read on.

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According to a study, the temperature on the AC is set based on 4 environmental factors: air temperature, radiant temperature, air velocity and humidity. Other factors would be the metabolism rate of the body and the clothing. The metabolism rate depends on size, age, weight, and fitness level. All these are based on the assumption that the employee is a 40-year-old man weighing 69 Kg; as reported by Nature Climate Change. And temperatures are adjusted accordingly.

To prove this point, many have run experiments to come to a valid conclusion. The Washington Post reported the experiment led by researchers at the Maastricht University where they recruited 16 women to sit inside a room set to a temperature of 24 degree Celsius. It was noted that the women, who were an average of 23 years old and weighed 64 kilos were literally freezing.

Cold in office, when air-conditioning is set to men's suits!

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In India, especially when some women resort to wearing sarees and salwar suits to work during summers, it becomes an overbearing task to not shiver while giving a presentation. Can we try not to freeze our female co-workers please? At times it becomes frustrating when your concern is misunderstood as whining. No, Mr. Know-It-All, I do not prefer to dress uncomfortably in woollen clothes (when it’s 48 degree Celsius outside) to hide my Goosebumps. Not only is it unfair, but inconsiderate to say the least. It is a known fact that when the environment is not comfortable with the temperature your body needs, the productivity of an individual goes down drastically.

We know you aren’t complaining for no reason at all. Hopefully, they will soon come out with an arrangement that is comfortable for both the sexes. Till then, hide the AC remote!

Feature Image Credit: telegraph.co.uk