For many women, here��s what summer ��business casual�� looks like: a dress or a skirt and blouse, plus a thick sweater, wool blanket for the legs, and sometimes even a space heater to stick under your desk.

Yes, judging by the temperatures in some corporate offices, you��d think humans weren��t capable of surviving outside a meat locker. As soon as the temperatures rise outside, they drop inside. I��ve been in offices going through major rounds of cost-cutting — like rationing office supplies and dropping carrots from the salad bar — but the AC is still cranked to a level that implies management likes to set fire to $100 bills.

Why is that?

I have long assumed it��s a vestige of patriarchy. Corporate office temperatures are set to be comfortable to slightly heavy-set men in suits. If you��re wearing three layers up top (T-shirt, dress shirt, jacket) and wool pants and socks, then I can see how a temperature in the low 60s might be necessary to avoid any sweat whatsoever. The fact that such temperatures will feel cold to a woman wearing a skirt (even with nylons) is just not considered relevant to serious business — much like discussions of telecommuting or flexible hours or other such touchy-feely concepts.

But in an era when we are becoming more and more concerned about the environmental impact of our decisions, near-freezing office temperatures are a huge waste on many levels. And it turns out that even the most formal cultures can change if they want.

At least that��s the lesson I��m taking from Japan where, after the March earthquake and tsunami, the country is operating with a lot less power capacity than it had last year. Japanese citizens have headed off rolling blackouts by conserving — a big part of which has been raising the temperature in frosty offices. Japanese executives have learned that you can conduct business in short sleeve shirts and khakis. Casual, heat-beating work clothes have become (literally) cool.

There��s no reason we can��t behave the same way. I��m not saying don��t turn on the AC at all. But a temperature in the high 70s is perfectly reasonable when it��s 90 degrees outside. There��s no reason to make your employees pack mittens in their purses.

What��s the temperature in your office?

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