by Claire Hitch

Created on: October 24, 2008

Or why women are giving top jobs the boot.

Forget the glass ceiling', the real reason that many women drop off the corporate ladder before reaching the top, is their love of shoes. High heeled shoes to be precise. Shoes are the one great passion that truly separates the girls from the boys; the one great divide that is unlikely to be bridged, at least in a corporate setting. Women that have to walk any distance to work - even a short walk from their car - and particularly those coping with the daily crush of commuting, will tell you that finding the right shoes is their biggest challenge. While anti-discrimination and equal pay legislation have tried to create a level playing field, the law is powerless to curtail a woman's lust for killer heels. Shoes hurtthat's part of their attraction. Characterless male dominated environments may be softened by pastel wall coverings and fragrant floral creations to make them more enticing to females but when it comes to footwear, working practices haven't yet recognised the special relationship between women and their heels.

Typically, corporate males have one, possibly two, pairs of work shoes. Lace ups or loafers that come in any colour so long as it's black. For men, shoes are purely utilitarian. Male executives calmly bestride the narrow corridors of power in flat comfortable shoes, never giving their feet a second thought. Meanwhile, their female colleagues are quite literally struggling to keep up with them in their to die for' d'Orsays.

The logical (ie masculine) response is that women should follow the male lead, ditch the heels and opt for a single pair of sensible business shoes. And therein lies the rub. Men just don't get women's relationship with shoes. Arguably, shoes, more than any other subject, best sums up the differences between the sexes.

Firstly, women have an emotional rather than logical attachment to shoes. The thought of owning just one pair of shoes that can be worn with every outfit is totally alien to most women. With the exception, perhaps, of the late, sainted Mother Theresa, no woman worth her salt, owns just one pair of shoes. Each pair is lovingly bought for its own unique characteristics, selected for its ability to enhance that difficult-to-match lime green jacket, that linen suit you bought last Summer and have never worn or simply because of those adorable little beaded bows. Some shoes are worn many times, others never leave their boxes but will be lovingly unwrapped from their tissue

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