Nurse in trousers told her London Marathon record would not count

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Nurse in trousers told her London Marathon record would not count

Guinness World Records says Jessica Anderson needed to have had a dress on to qualify

Jedidajah Otte
Sun 5 May 2019 00.09 BST Last modified on Sun 5 May 2019 09.46 BST

An NHS nurse who ran the London Marathon was told her Guinness World Record attempt would not count because she was not wearing a dress.

Jessica Anderson, who has been working for the Royal London Hospital’s acute admission unit for seven years, was aiming to become the fastest female marathon runner dressed as a nurse but her scrubs and trousers did not match the uniform criteria.

Guinness World Record (GWR) rules stipulate that a nurse’s uniform must include a blue or white dress, a white pinafore apron and a traditional white nurse’s cap. Anderson was told that scrubs could be confused with the fancy dress requirements for a doctor’s uniform.

Speaking to Runner’s World, Anderson, who finished in a time of 3:08:22, called the uniform requirements “outdated” and said: “I was quite taken aback when I read that they’d rejected my application and I did email them to ask them to reconsider but they said no. Some of the nurses I work with do wear dresses but mostly we wear scrubs or a tunic and trousers. I’ve certainly never seen a male nurse wearing a dress to work.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/05/nurse-in-trousers-told-her-london-marathon-record-is-invalid

[Loki Liesmith]

1. Really advancing the cause of civil rights with this one

[bobbieinok]

2. Thought nurses in dresses disappeared in the 60s

FlorenceNightengale nurses had to wear dresses with longer back panels so nothing of legs would show when they bent over to do their work.

As kid in 40s, 50s in I liked the illustration of Cherry Ames in cap, dress, cape. That was a kid view.

[MuseRider]

4. In nursing school in the 80's

we had to wear dresses on the floor at all times except in surgery and labor and delivery. They had to be long enough to cover our knees and had about 80 tiny buttons down the front. We had to wear those wingy hats (short wings but not short enough to not get tangled in IV lines). White hose, white shoes and they had to be spotless and with shoestrings. If I had been in school 10 years before I would have been required to live in a dorm with strict rules that made you think of teachers in the 1800's.

I dumped all that for my first job in the ER, we could wear scrubs and then on to the ICU where white would have been a massively stupid choice.

So nope. As close as the 80's (early 80's) we were still the only people in the hospital with a real dress code from top to bottom.

I doubt it was that way everywhere.

[bobbieinok]

5. Thanks for your interesting reply. I had no idea.

[MuseRider]

7. Being at that time still mostly female,

I am guessing it still is, this was still an allowed discrimination. I do not know now. I DO however remember finding out that the male new graduate on our floor made more than the head nurse on his first day and she was a 10 year employee. I do think that has changed at least.

I had only 2 men in my class and only worked with men in the ICU, even the ER was all female at that time.

[dhol82]

3. Yeah, would a male nurse be required to run in a dress and cap?

Seems like a ridiculous requirement.

[msongs]

6. she knew the requirements and chose to violate them. too bad. GWR is not a public

entity its a private for profit company.

[Iggo]

8. Can't remember the last time I saw a nurse in a dress.

I imagine it was sometime back in the 60's or 70s.