When you think about gender inequality, it’s unlikely that the first issue which springs to mind is pockets.
However, a new study has revealed that women’s clothes have significantly smaller pockets than men’s, rendering them almost entirely impractical.
Research carried out by The Pudding found that on average, the pockets in women’s jeans were 48 per cent smaller and 6.5 per cent narrower than those in men’s jeans.
The team of researchers analysed pocket size of 80 jeans from 20 major fashion brands, including Calvin Klein, H&M, Levi’s, Wrangler and Ralph Lauren and found that on the whole, women’s pockets were far smaller and therefore purely aesthetic.
They tested which of the classic pocket-fitting items - such as keys, phones and wallets - could fit into men’s and women’s pockets and found that just 40 per cent of the women’s jeans could fit an iPhoneX in the front pocket and only 20 per cent could hold a Samsung Galaxy.
Meanwhile, every pair of men’s jeans studied could fit an iPhoneX inside the front pocket and 95 per cent comfortably held a Samsung Galaxy.
It’s not even as if women can easily fit their hands into the average front pocket, with just 10 per cent of women’s jeans studied fitting a female hand inside, whereas every single pair of men’s jeans could fit a male or female hand into the pocket.
The analysis revealed that the biggest front pockets for women’s jeans are in those made by Abercrombie & Fitch, followed by American Eagle and H&M.
However, even these were still much smaller in comparison to the front pockets in men’s jeans.
So, until denim brands combat the gender pocket gap by making women's jeans with larger pockets, those with pocket-storage fantasies are better off seeking alternative options, such as bum bags.
