Planners urged to slip on women’s shoes
In a ‘what women want’ statement of intent, the female members of Cork County Council are calling on their sisterhood throughout the nation to stand up — if they can — when it comes to the issue of cobblestones.
Councillors Deirdre Forde and Veronica Neville say male-dominated local authorities are putting too much emphasis on cobblestones in streets, which is proving particularly dangerous to the fairer sex in high heels.
Both councillors have thrown down the gauntlet to council engineers and asked them to try walking such surfaces in stilettos. There have been no takers to date. Ms Forde said that the vast majority of engineers and planners were men who walked on these surfaces in flat shoes and didn’t understand what it was like trying to negotiate them in stilettos.
“There are two types of stones in use which are causing problems. Some are old cobblestones inserted in cement which you saw introduced first in the 18th century and the others are the more modern ridge stones which are locked together on a bed of sand,” she said.
Ms Forde said, during the 18th century, women wearing heels were “normally lucky enough to have a gentlemen on their arm who’d help steady their balance over such obstacles”.
She said: “These days if you haven’t got one (a gentlemen) to hand, you’d need a zimmer frame to get by.”
The Fine Gael councillor said it was “difficult enough to walk on them stone cold sober during the hours of daylight” but it was particularly dangerous when young women were making their way home after socialising on weekend nights.
“I’ve had numerous complaints from women and not just in Cork. Just look at Temple Bar in Dublin. Some of the heels women wear these days are four or five inches high. The planners need to recognise this and they should don high heels themselves and then they’d know,” Ms Forde said.
Ms Neville, who is a solicitor, said the ridge stones, or cobblelock as they are also known, shifted on top of sand and when cracks appeared women got their heels caught and often toppled over.
She said that main street in her hometown of Bandon was full of cobblestones.
“It’s almost impossible to walk on them and even worse if you are trying to push a pram or a buggy at the same time.”
Ms Neville said while the stones “might look aesthetically pleasing they are simply not practical”.
Many women, she said, had fallen on the stones and by using them the county council was leaving itself open to legal action.
“It’s highly inappropriate as some stones are set down on sand which expands and contracts. They had to patch up part of the street as a result. This is not a sensible solution,” Ms Neville said.
