Where does the tradition of women wearing skirts or dresses and men wearing trousers come from?

[dave50]

Is it to give men easier access to have sex when women wear skirts or dresses?

[DTCwordfan]

mini-skirts as well

http://buccaneerblade...0/04/RomanSoldier.jpg

[tonyav]

Yep, hope they weren't made of goat skin DT.

[joggerjayne]

It's to stop your winkie getting sweaty.

[Mosaic]

One reason is practical, related to the ease of having a wee. Skirt-wearers simply need to squat down ever so slightly, male or female.
But I think the real reason comes down to Christian religious teachings. As christianity spread across europe in the early centuries of the first millennium, a handy social shibboleth was to persuade women to cover their hair, dress 'modestly' and not aspire to the roles of men, hence not wear trousers.

It is remarkably noticeable that areas not taken into christian control are also areas where women continued to wear trousers.

[DTCwordfan]

so Mosaic, what you are saying is that our forebearers were no better than the Muslims today as to "proper" kit for the women..............

[wolf63]

I have a question - has Mark Rae got any photographs of himself where he is smiling?

[pastafreak]

I always assumed that what muslim women wear now-is what most women wore(or a variation of depending on climate or region) several millenia ago.
They've not changed-we have.
And I agree with the premise that skirts are easier for women to relieve themselves in.

[Mosaic]

DT, if you look at the numerous exhortations in christian writings for women to cover their wicked sinful hair, not wear makeup and etc etc .....
Got even worse during the reformation - the calvinist behaviour rules in places like Switzerland even forebade women from making a noise with their feet when they walked - as did the Taliban in Afghanistan.

[boxtops]

I endorse the weeing answer