A Logical Look at Today’s Female Work Attire

The other day, my younger daughter invited me shopping to find some new clothes for her upcoming business trip. She works at well-respected Fortune 500 company, and she wanted to make a good impression. I was glad have time with my daughter, and the experience prompted this post about today’s women’s work attire.

I started my business career in the late 70’s and early 80’s when women were bashing their heads on the glass ceiling and putting some serious cracks in it. I worked at a bank, and we wore business suits with padded shoulders, ridiculously imitating men’s wear. If we could have worn men’s actual suits and neckties, we probably would have. We also wore pumps without toe cleavage. And speaking of neckline cleavage, that was, in general, a no-no.

That is, of course, for the women who wanted to get ahead. We read Dress for Success for Women and studied the wardrobe of the highest-ranked, respected woman in the organization. We dressed for the position we wanted, rather than the one we had.

As my daughter and I trolled the racks at a major department store, I cautioned against necklines too low and hems too high. Unfortunately, most of the inventory met those descriptions. My daughter told me over and over that she wished I could come to her workplace to see what the women wore there. I told her I believe her, because I’ve seen them walking around downtown and I’ve scrolled past what is considered professional wear today on shopping sites. Business casual environments and jeans days have further complicated things for professional women.

Young women in business today walk a fine line between dressing attractively and dressing provocatively. And men are somehow expected not to respond to low-cut tops, leggings, and short skirts, even though their physiological response is a function of the autonomic nervous system. Sounds kind of like reverse sexual harassment, doesn’t it? Perhaps the best strategy for men is never to look at women below the neckline, at least at work. Of course, in the end, men’s behavior is their responsibility.

This brings me to the #metoo movement, which has made most men think twice about inappropriate behavior in the workplace. I can’t count myself among the #metoo ranks, because I was never intimidated at work or made to feel that my job was in jeopardy. There was that one time when I was invited to volunteer at a Ducks Unlimited dinner because they wanted good-looking young women to act as hostesses. When I told my boss that there was no way I’d do that, the subject was dropped and he knew not to go there again with me.

Now, even though we women of the 70’s and 80’s forged the way, the glass ceiling still exists, albeit with some serious breaches, and the hard fact remains that most members of top management are still men.

So, here’s something interesting to think about. Most men in top management have wives, don’t they? Let’s consider the following scenario.

A VP is presented with three candidates for promotion. All have equal qualifications and credentials. One is a male. One is a woman who dresses provocatively. One is a woman who dresses professionally. Let’s say the VP wants to add more females to the upper ranks. Okay, that eliminates the man. Now the VP must decide between the provocatively dressed woman and the woman who dresses professionally. Although the provocatively dressed woman might be more fun to look at, the VP has his own reputation to uphold, and plus, his own wife at home, who might just get a look at the new hire and have a thing or two to say about her. If the VP has any sense at all, with all other things being equal, he will choose the woman who dresses professionally, rather than provocatively. Women, even those with powerful careers of their own, have a lot of influence at home.

All of this sounds very conservative, but it’s based on plain logic. Today’s young women must decide whether it’s more important for them to look sexy and get ahead, thanks to superiors who see them as objects, or get ahead on their own merits. And when I say on their own merits, that means in a way that when they look back years later, they’ll know that it’s all theirs.