How high are your heels?
High heels do wonders for the legs and your posture, but we all know that the pain can be unbearable - but this is definitely not stopping us from wearing them.
New research has indicated that British women are wearing the highest heels in Europe, with the average heel height at 3.3 inches.
Some take it to even greater heights, with a quarter of British women surveyed wearing heels 4-6inches high and a sky-scraping 3 per cent braving heels that are more than 6 inches. In comparison, Spanish women wear an average 3.2 inch heel, Denmark 3 inches, Germany 2.7 inches and France 2.4 inches.
The European survey, by the makers of Compeed polled 3,792 women from 5 countries (France, Germany, Spain, Denmark and polled 1,000 from the UK alone) and suggests that the shorter the woman, the higher the heel.
Psychologist, Emma Kenny explains: “Research has suggested that a tall woman is considered more assertive, confident, richer, capable, successful, independent and even more intelligent than their shorter peers.
“Perception is incredibly powerful and it makes sense that the feedback we receive from the way we are treated by others will reinforce our choices. The British woman is an ambitious breed, and if putting on a pair of six inch heels increases their career prospects, rightly or wrongly, the savvy individual will do so.”
Perhaps it’s no surprise then that British women are among the shortest in Europe with the average height of an 18 to 29 year old standing at 163cm. In comparison, German women are the tallest in Europe at 168cm and younger Spanish women are just one centimetre taller than British women.
Within the UK, women from the North East give a whole new meaning to the term ‘Northern Swagger’ by towering above us all in the highest of heels (3.46 inches). Londoners stride into second place with an average heel height of 3.37 inches; women from the West Midlands are a few stiletto steps behind at 3.35 inches, while the Scots and women of Eastern England prefer a more conservative height of 3.28 and 3.25 inches respectively.
Sandra Chatelain, spokesperson for Compeed says: “The research shows that heel height for many comes at a price, with 65 per cent of UK women citing blisters as a significant source of pain resulting from wearing high heels. Despite this, 1 in 2 women are prepared to endure a level of pain they ranked as comparable with toothache and earache.”
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