Dress Codes: Why don’t women get as many pockets as men?

It’s a familiar exchange to many women: “I love your dress.” “Thanks, it has pockets!”

So coveted is the spacious inset pouch in womenswear that when they exist, they are likely to attract attention. Take Dua Lipa’s look at the 2023 Met Gala — a vintage, cream-colored Chanel gown with pockets she was able to slip her hands inside, to the delight of many internet users, or Emma Stone’s decision to stuff the exaggerated hip pockets of her red Louis Vuitton dress with popcorn at Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Usable pockets seem like an obvious feature to include in ready-to-wear garments, but that is far from the case. It is standard for dresses and skirts to be pocketless, and when pockets do exist in slacks and blazers, they can be deceptively small. Other times, they’re just deceptive: see the fake pockets that come as a shallow lip over a disappointing seam on a pair of jeans, or a jacket with flaps but no actual opening beneath it.

Yet the demand for pockets is clear. Online, fantasies for pocket space find a like-minded audience, from designer Nicole McLaughlin’s hyperfunctional creations made from upcycled materials (chip-and-dip work vest, anyone?) to Y2K throwback creator Erin Miller cramming childhood paraphernalia into her old JNCO jeans, Mary Poppins-style. The question is rinsed and repeated in forums and on social media: Why don’t women get as many pockets as men?

If it all feels vaguely sexist, it is, according to Hannah Carlson, an apparel design lecturer at the Rhode Island School of Design and the author of “Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close.” Since the internal pouch’s arrival in fashion, women have been “differently pocketed,” Carlson said — marking a symbol of gender inequality for hundreds of years.

The lack of pockets in women’s clothing may feel “perplexing,” because they “seem like just this simple, functional device,” she said on a phone call with CNN. “I think objects reveal the things we don’t want to say out loud. We still live in a patriarchy, and (the) objects (in our lives) are made under those conditions.”