Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!daemon
From: tan@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Greer Hsing Tan)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: The issue of physical appearance
Message-ID: <5041@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
Date: 2 Jun 89 15:28:31 GMT
References: <52240@aerospace.AERO.ORG>
Sender: ambar@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: tan@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Greer Hsing Tan)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
Lines: 28
Approved: ambar@bloom-beacon.mit.edu

Here is a little pet peeve of mine.  Physical appearance ... I'm
not talking natural beauty or vogue looks, I'm talking about appearing
like to took care of your dress and make-up.

Question, what is the appropriate "dress" for a woman in the office?  My
mother thinks I ought to wear light pink, light blue, beige ... pleated
pants and a silk blouse ... no argument that this is appropriate, but she
holds that this is all I should wear.  I tend to favor executive skirts
with a tailored jacket or some times a sleeveless top (I work in a
casual environment in Southern California ... it gets hot) ... she
deems this totally inappropriate.  So, we came to the issue of what the
objective is to dress.  We agreed that offering an "image", i.e. making
a first impression, is really the issue.  But the question is who has
defined the appropriate "female" attire in the work place in the past?
Was it not male employers with female secretaries?  If we dress as
secretaries, is that how we will be constantly perceived regardless
of our job?  (I'm a Software Engineer), but if we are to dress toward
the position we are to achieve, what if the only Lab Directors and
Executive Technical Directors have all been men in the past, does dressing
in masculine clothes promote women in executive offices?  I think
women have come a long way in corporate America and this is no longer
necessary.  Do we, or do we not believe that there are quality women
in the work force?  Do we, or do we not believe that a woman's place is
in the work force, in the home, in the field, ... whereever she feels
comfortable ... as is a man's place?

Comments???

Greer H. Tan