The Dhaka Times Desk Many of us may have noticed that men's shirts are buttoned on the right side and women's shirts on the left side. But why? Have we ever thought of that? Find out the secret today.
Have you ever wondered why your and your spouse's shirt buttons are inside out when you put on your shirt? Men are on the right and women are on the left. You probably never noticed. In a busy life, there may be no way to notice the small things. But why is this? There are many different opinions on the matter.
Historians believe that the trend of buttons dates back to the Indus Civilization. At that time buttons were made from oyster shells. Then many years later i.e. in the 13th century came the use of perforated buttons in Germany.
Back then only the rich had buttons on their shirts. Although the men wore the shirts themselves, maids were employed separately to wear the shirts of rich women. A section of experts claimed that women's shirts were buttoned on the left side to facilitate the dressing of maids. Since men dressed themselves, their shirts were buttoned on the right side.
Moreover, most people are right-handed. That is, people who are used to doing more and difficult work with their right hand. Since men kept their swords in their right hands, it was convenient to undress them with their left hand. Another thing is that women keep their right hand free most of the time while breastfeeding their babies. So having the button on the left side is very convenient for women.
We know that the left hand is subordinate to the right hand - this idea has been around for ages. That is why women's shirt buttons have been placed on the left side since that era. That is, women are under men or women's place is always under men, is this system to show that!
Again, according to some, Napoleon Bonaparte initiated such a system. Why did Napoleon keep one of his hands inside his shirt all the time? Women imitated him or mocked him. To stop that issue, Napoleon ordered women to button their shirts on the left side. Various arguments have been made about buttoning shirts on the right and left sides.
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