Alice Pawley is an assistant professor of 
SciWo is an assistant professor of geosciences. She blogs about the intersection of science and real life - primarily based on her first-hand experiences. Her older posts can be found 
For those of you who liked my footwear selection, you may be interested in knowing about Red Ants Pants. They claim to be "the first ever company dedicated to manufacturing workwear for women" and it is a small woman owned and operated business in Montana. The pants are not cheap, but they are durable and they offer both a straight and curvy cut. The next time I'm off on a major field adventure, I might give these pants a try.
h/t ScienceBrother, but ScienceGrandma points out that Carhartt also makes a line of women's clothing.
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hmmm, kinda spendy. can you put those on a grant as necessary field equipment?
Posted by: DrugMonkey | December 4, 2008 2:17 PM
Obviously DrugMonkey has never gone through 5 pairs of cheap field pants in 5 months...barbed wire is a real bitch.
I LIKE the red ants pants. I have found the "womens" for Carhartts are just men's cuts made smaller. I might be willing to pay the extra money for something that actually looks like its made for a woman!!! Thanks for sharing, ScienceWoman
Posted by: River Tam | December 4, 2008 10:03 PM
Wait...you mean...clothes made for women, sized in actual inches? Field pants that might not chafe, or require a scarf tied around the midsection to prevent an upper-back sunburn (well, maybe I spend more time bending over than some field scientists...)? I think I'm going to cry. Or at least try a pair. Thanks for the link!
Posted by: Liberal Arts Lady | December 4, 2008 10:26 PM
@Drug Monkey - Actually this sort of thing is quite a problem for us, for things like waders and snow shoes that are even more definitely "field equipment." You should hear administrative people (and even some older, male faculty) moan and say that we should just wear the stuff the department already owns. Right, like those size 12 waders are going to work for me, much less for my 4'10" female student.
Posted by: ScienceWoman | December 4, 2008 10:48 PM
The whole "female field clothing" issue gets me all fired up. Thanks for the link - I'm definitely going to keep them in mind when I get my next pair of field pants.
Posted by: short geologist | December 5, 2008 9:14 AM
Field appropriate and properly sized - what a concept.
Let me count some of the past problems:
No leather gloves in my size.
Waders too tall.
5 different stores in a 100 mile radius don't carry women's tall leather boots.
2 stores in 100 mile radius carry women's tall leather boots, but only with steel toes.
All of the frame packs for carrying bulky field gear too long.
Then there was the crusty old salt who became impatient with me. "Just don't worry about not having a safety strap for the chest waders." Hello? The safety strap is so the waders don't fill up with water and cause me to drown if I fall in. No safety strap = deal breaker
Posted by: Peanut | December 6, 2008 4:02 AM
Thanks for the link, SW. I'll definitely keep these in mind.
Even if you can't get a grant to pick up the tab, save the receipts, and deduct the cost from your taxes as a work-related expense. That's what I did last year when I broke down and coughed up the high sticker price for good wetland boots with support. They were not offered in womens sizes, so I bought the smallest mens size, and double up on the thickest possible wool socks.
Of course there is always a wide selection of womens sizes available in the cheap, crappy, supportless rubber boots. Sigh. Too bad they make your feet hurt if you actually wear them all day.
Posted by: BerryBird | December 6, 2008 8:25 PM
I read somewhere that even the astronaut spacewalk suits had some issues for the female astronauts... sigh. When are we going to stop seeing proper sizing for women as 'extra'? Lab coats and gloves have improved somewhat, but the more obscure or expensive it is, the more likely it is to be a problem.
Posted by: Sara | December 7, 2008 2:24 PM
For 30+ years I have been deducting my double canvas field pants, waders, heavy work boots, high hiking boots, forester's vests, heavy gloves, etc. Of course, none of them really fit! I have never had my tax deductions questioned by the IRS. Don't forget to keep a log of all the miles you generate on your vehicle previewing class field labs and going back and forth and round-about your research sites. Unfortunately unreimbursed employee expenses don't take much off your taxes. My university would never pay me or provide a vehicle for field lab prep, because the other faculty thought that if I got reimbursed for mileage, why then they ought to get reimbursed for coming in to the U on weekends and evenings!
Posted by: ecologist | December 8, 2008 4:51 PM
Thanks for the post. I'm a geologist in the oil patch and I struggled for years. Now I absolutely depend on Duluth Trading Company for my lady field/work clothing and accessories. Much better than Carhartts, they make women's sizes & fit for almost everything (vests, gloves, pants, shirts etc.) Even the quality is awesome. I still use the first pants I ever bought from them about 3 years ago. I love 'em, and have found some cool tools there too.
Example of pants: http://snurl.com/7p7n3
Women's catalog portal: http://snurl.com/7p7tr
Sorry to sound like a plug but they've made my life so much easier - no more too baggy or too tight guy clothes in yucky conditions around dangerous equipment and roughnecks, no more women's clothing that I have to replace every 2 months.
Posted by: Jo | December 9, 2008 11:55 AM
I can vouch for the Red Ants Pants! They are fantastic. They fit better than my carhartts and are rugged enough for many types of field work: working cattle, horseback riding, hiking and digging in the mountains of Montana to the swamps and flatlands of the Mississippi Delta.
Posted by: Rachel Evans | May 13, 2010 12:59 PM