There are many reasons why a lot of service industry jobs require a uniform: It makes you focus on the company, not the individual serving you. This person behind the counter is identical to that person behind the counter. What’s important is the product or service you receive.
There used to be a business uniform–suits. Broadcast journalists wore suits. Both male and female (but especially male) on air personalities wore suits and while some individuals were more popular than others, we liked to think it was because they were better journalists than the other people. Nobody fussed about Barbara Walter’s outfits.
Now? Poor Megyn Kelly can’t even dress properly without people freaking out about her clothes. This, incidentally, is what she wore to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.
To keep reading and see Ms. Kelly’s latest wardrobe choices, click here: Let’s Just All Shut Up About Megyn Kelly’s Clothes
No one I know is talking about Megyn Kelly’s clothes. There are people more concerned with her history of racist comments, and how that translates to NBC. Fox News is one thing, mainstream TV is another. In addition, making a whole blog post gives more credence to the whole clothes issue. And you could have picked any other high powered female to use as your example – most women in the public eye get criticized over their clothing, or hair, at some point in their professional lives. You could use your power for good and pick a different, better, example.
I’ll be honest–people click on articles about Megyn Kelly. They don’t click on articles about other women the same way. Why? I don’t know. But they do.
It’s true there is a huge sexual double-standard regarding — among other things — appropriate workplace attire. A man could probably wear the same suit almost ever day and get away with it, provided that he was clean and pressed and rotated his shirts and ties. A woman could never do that. Plus, there is a much wider variety of clothing options for women; hence, many more potential pitfalls in choosing the appropriate outfit. I think in Kelly’s case, there’s heightened attention, since she came from Fox, where women were sexually-objectified and required to wear short, body-revealing dresses and were positioned so as to show off their legs. She’s probably loving being able to wear pants, and more power to her!
This has happened: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2014/nov/17/male-tv-presenter-same-suit-year-female-colleagues-judged
Just one point of anecdata, but there you go.
There is a total double standard, but I think it’s women pushing other women into it. Men just flat out don’t care as much as other women do.
Yep, I agree. It is mainly women who make a fuss about what other women wear.
Case in point – during the last US presidential election, a neighbor and I were discussing this very topic about how there is a double standard for women politicians. While the men seem to get away with wearing the same suit a woman would be noticed for wearing the same or “wrong” or whatever thing.
Just as we were saying this, my neighbor (a woman BTW) blurted out – did you see her (meaning Hillary) hair the other day? What on earth was she thinking by not “doing anything with it! I’d be embarrassed to go out the house looking like that!”
I went from a job where I worked with almost all women to one where I work with almost all men (and they are all engineers).
I now wear the same thing every week. Every. Single. Week. As an experiment, I decided to see if I could go an entire year without buying new clothes.
Yes, I could. It was easy.
Male engineers do not care.
(Also, there is NO DRAMA with men, but that’s another topic.)
Signed,
Never quitting this job
I would have stopped the headline sooner:
“Let’s just all shut up about Megyn Kelly”
And Katie Couric is only known for her smile.
And Barbara Walters is only known for her speech impediment.
Even my local newswomen get talked about because this one gained weight, that one wears too much make-up, that one never changes her hairdo, and this one should wear contacts instead of glasses.
Yet Shepherd Smith’s plastic surgery work is painfully obvious, and in my town, the male lead newscaster gets balder every year and the weatherman’s attempt at a toupee is laughable. The morning guy’s tie never matches his suit. But no one talks about these men. It’s an insane double standard.
Yes, let’s look beyond the clothes and the make up and the hairdo’s of these women and focus on the extent to which they can deliver news, conduct interviews, and explore the issues that matter.
Can I talk about the interesting fact that we had 3 weather women on 3 different stations all pregnant at the same time? It was quite amusing flipping through the stations.
Barbara Walters is only known for her speech impediment.
I don’t think I have ever seen her, but do you think it could be because you usually don’t think of someone with a speech impediment being in the TV business?
Is this the best you can come up with for an article? Just confirms that most “so called” HR professionals don’t know what they are talking about. One reason our courts are full of bad employment lawsuits