Offices Too Cold for Women Because Air Conditioning Settings Are Gender Biased

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Many women who are working in an office may be seen donning a shawl or a jacket even when it's in the middle of a blazing summer. They may say that the temperature in their office is too cold, and although some people may find their reasoning too shallow, a new study may argue otherwise as they have discovered that the standard temperature formula in the work place is based on men's metabolic rate.

Today writes that according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the formula used in most workplaces is based on the one developed way back in 1960, which uses the metabolic rate of a 40-year-old man who weighs 154 pounds.

Dr. Devi Nampiaparampil from the NYU School of Medicine said as women have lower metabolic rates, they have a tendency to burn off calories at a much slower speed. This makes women excrete lesser heat than men, making them easily susceptible to the cold.

Furthermore, Dr. Nampiaparampil elaborated that as women also prefers to wear skirts during the summer, it is more than likely that their bare skin are exposed to the cold, as compared to men who prefer to wear suits and layers even when it's scorching hot outside.

Authors of the study Boris Kingma and Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt of the University of Maastricht Medical Center told CCN Money that the temperature standard could be set according to the body composition of everyone working in a certain office or building to create an ideal working environment for all.

The two have conducted the study on 16 women in a controlled environment, and they have discovered that ideally, women prefer working in a temperature that is five degrees warmer than men.

People Magazine adds that by increasing the heat in the office to a more suitable temperature, not only will the women work better but the office and company will also save more energy. This might mean that the standard formula should and must be changed.

However, The New York Times reports that offices and workplaces may not easily adopt the proposal as experts believe most businesses tend to squeeze more people than necessary in a small office.

According to architecture professor Khee Poh Lam from the Carnegie Mellon, even if the industry accepts the change, buildings are being used by different businesses so the thermostats are in different locations and may not affect energy saving at all. But, Professor Lam said that change may take effect if people keep on asking for improvements.