Take a minute and put your hand in your pocket. Feel around the space for your phone or keys, the soft material inside, or the remnants of anything that was last in there. But for those of you that put your hand to feel for a pocket and didn’t find one- why? Almost everyone agrees that not having pockets is inconvenient and annoying, but not everyone knows that it’s a centuries-old women’s rights issue.

Probably every girl out there puts on a dress or a skirt some days of their lives and struggles to find a solution to the problem of where to put their phone. And every time there is a pocket- girls share cries of joy and discovery because finally something that they wear has a pocket.

To everyone who wears women’s clothes: where do you put all of your things if not pockets? Your wallets, keys, phone – they typically go in a purse. Purses are exorbitantly expensive, with the average price being $160. The average woman owns nine purses. Simply because women’s clothes don’t have pockets, society expects a woman to put so much more energy, time, and money into their appearance than a man. In addition to this, carrying items in a bag rather than on your person makes you much more vulnerable to be pickpocketed.

Of course there’s jeans and sweatpants and leggings with built in phone pockets. But what about the skirt that a girl wants to wear to school or the dress that she needs to put on for a dance? And of course she ends up holding her phone in her hand because there is nowhere else to put it. 

According to CTV news, “A recent study has revealed that women’s pockets are nearly 50 per cent smaller than men’s pockets…” 

CTV also discovered that the same study realized that “only 40 per cent of women’s front pockets can fit the iPhone X, 20 per cent a Samsung Galaxy and only 5 per cent the Google Pixel. Less than half of women’s front pockets can fit a wallet specifically designed for front pockets and while 100 per cent of men’s pockets could handle the average male hand, only 10 per cent of women’s could fit a woman’s hand.” 

Before we dive deeper into the reason why so many women’s clothes items don’t have pockets, it’s important to understand where pockets even came from to begin with. Pockets have been around for as long as we can remember, without a specific date for the invention. Pocket-like pouches were worn in parts of Italy and Austria and later found on mummies. Both women and men would carry around pouches that served a use equivalent to that of a pocket. 

As the 17th century was around the corner, people finally discovered that pockets could be sewn into clothing and not just carried around. However, this was only applied to men’s clothes. Women’s pockets were still worn on a belt, buried deep beneath the layers of skirts that were fashionable at the time. It was also viewed that women did not have any money to carry around because they could not earn money or work in society. That was a man’s job.

Then in the 18th century, the perils of women’s pockets continued as the French Revolution unfolded. Interior and exterior pockets alike were banned in womens clothing by the government. As crazy as it may sound, the idea was to prevent women from concealing any sort of revolutionary materials. 

Beyond being infuriatingly inconvenient, these hidden pockets have historically posed a fatal risk for women. In 16th and 17th century witch hunts, supposed witches were accused of smuggling potions or poisons in hidden pockets. If a woman was found with a hidden pocket, no matter what was in it, she was in danger of being burned at the stake. 

As the debate over the necessity of pockets in women’s clothing continued, it was eventually decided that women did not have the need for pockets. They were women, after all, and didn’t need to go to work or fight in wars like men. In 1954, designer Christian Dior said, “Men have pockets to keep things in, women for decoration.” Women were told that they simply had no use for them. The meaning is clear: men’s clothes are designed for utility and ease, women’s clothes are designed to objectify those who wear them. Coming from someone renowned as one of the most important fashion designers of the 20th century, this quote carries an even heavier weight.

Fast forward to the 20th century: men are off fighting in World War One, so the women assumed the positions that the soldiers left behind. These roles called for more functional attire than what was standard for women of the time, so female fashion took a sharp turn towards practicality. Suits with pockets replaced dresses, and women got a first glance at what having pockets was like.

I say “first glance” because after the war came to an end, all of the progress it brought regressed dramatically. Fashion norms changed again, bringing us to the present.

It is obvious that even long ago women were neglected from the everyday convenience and comfort of pockets. Look where we are today, with many skirts, dresses, and leggings lacking the beneficial and practicality changing pocket. It still doesn’t make sense why the simple invention of pockets turned the world upside down into a patriarchal society. 

One of the supposed “answers” was that pockets would only make a woman’s outfit look worse. The layers of cloth would bulge out, women would not appear fragile and beautiful anymore, and their figure was entirely ruined. 

Because of this situation, people came up with the idea of fake pockets. People believed that a solution to bulging pockets was to make ones that looked convenient and practical, but weren’t actually. Even today, many people struggle to try and fit their phone into one of their pockets, only to find that it can’t even open. 

But is the overall look of the clothing actually what matters anymore? Instead of layers and layers of skirts, in modern fashion most women choose to wear jeans or sweatpants. They could even wear button down shirts or tight or loose fit clothing with giant or small pockets- all ideas that were thought to be absurd and disrespectful so many years ago. 

Despite the debate over pockets, clothing, and fashion, it’s 2024 now. We should be past the differentiation between women’s clothing and men’s clothing. We should be living in a world where men and women can decide to wear whatever they want- with or without pockets. However, it seems that we haven’t gotten there quite yet. 

As we look at the whirlwind of the pocket patriarchy, it is evident that it is not just a debate, but also a symbolic instance. The pocket is for practicality, something that only men were thought to have needed because they were the only ones who seemed fit for providing for society. But really, the long road of pocket necessity took a sharp turn, and instead of the pouch being viewed as a norm, it was a sign for freedom and revolution.

Look around, notice things, and think about what might have a deeper meaning and history than you might have thought. The seemingly endless struggle of gender equality is eerily infused in even the most mundane aspects of our everyday life.