Record-breaking heat waves have arrived early across Europe and the United States. At the same time, corporate America is pushing workers back into the office full-time. This means another seasonal ritual is returning, too: the office thermostat war.

And it’s a battle of the sexes, one where women are handed a consistent verdict: Better she shivers than he sweats.

For many women, the problem is not simply preference. Modern air-conditioning standards were built around a mid-century model of a male office worker wearing a wool suit. Decades later, most buildings are still calibrated around that assumption, even though the workforce and the dress code have changed.

Every woman knows the look: the whispered “It’s freezing” exchanged in office hallways, conference rooms, restaurants, and hotel ballrooms. Many of us leave home carrying an extra sweater, shawl, or jacket not because the weather outside demands it, but because the buildings we enter will. We drape those extra layers over chairs, stuff them into bags, or pile them beside us........

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