Women Who Wear Pants: Still Somehow Controversial

[davidn3600]

5. This kind of has more to do with social programming, in my view

It would be quite controversial if male flight attendants showed up in skirts. Perhaps even more controversial than if women showed up in pants.

What dictates gender-based dress habits is social traditions and culture. When we grow up we are told, "Men wear this.....and women wear that..." and that's how we grow up. It's what we become accustomed to. When we see women wearing something men usually wear (or vice-versa) we stare and find it strange and out of place.
The point here is the culture is what determines this. And our ideas of what constitutes feminine or masculine clothing is taught to us by society, parents, and the media. We are all born naked. We don't come out of the womb knowing ties are for men and skirts are for women.