Naked, But For My Intellect

-- MinaNasseri - 09 Apr 2008

Disclaimer: This essay is based on my personal experience as a woman in the workplace. I am not pointing fingers, at either sex. These are subjective observations and suggestions for personal change in my own life. Comments are both welcome and appreciated!

I may edit this a couple more times before the day is through...

A moment of humiliation…

It was my proudest professional moment to date. I was the Press Secretary of a U.S. Senate campaign. Before me was a room full of leaders from the state’s Democratic Party and I was to convince them to support my candidate. I had worked out my plan of attack: I would walk up to each person, give him a firm handshake, and engage in an intelligent discussion of the campaign and the candidacy. Just then, a fellow staffer turned to me and said, wryly, “Mina, you’ll win that entire room over with those boots you got on.” My sense of accomplishment vanished instantly. I had forgotten what I was wearing-–a knee-length skirt with boots. I had forgotten what I was wearing because I had forgotten it mattered.

…followed by a moment of introspection…

That moment led me to ask myself why I wear clothes such as skirts and high heels in the workplace. The simple, superficial answer is because it looks good. I started playing dress-up with my mother’s clothes at age six; at 16, I would beg my parents to let me wear high heels. I have loved and always will love beautiful clothes.

The more complicated answer is that I feel better—sexier, more confident, empowered—when wearing a skirt and heels. I admit that such attire is physically uncomfortable. I cannot count the number of blisters I have gotten from wearing high heels or the number of times I had to adjust my skirt and worry about a run in my pantyhose. Yet I have come to accept the discomfort of wearing this attire, convincing myself that it is somehow “worth it.” The truth is that I gladly sacrifice my physical comfort for the sense of empowerment that comes with wearing a skirt or a pair of heels. Delving deeper, I find that wearing such clothes in the workplace attracts attention and this attention, in turn, feeds my confidence. I appreciate the irrationality—and perhaps even immaturity—of this attitude. It is, however, a reality of human nature that attention, whether positive or negative, reinforces behavior.

Returning to my "moment of humiliation," I wonder if I would have preferred to have not been wearing skirts and high heels at that moment. I stood before a room of mostly men feeling prepared and confident to speak to each one. Did I feel prepared and confident in spite of my attire or because of it?

The Cost of Fashion

My decision to wear high-heeled shoes and skirts to work can, however, come at a cost to my image as a female professional. I consider myself an “accomplished” individual; I have never achieved something, academically or professionally, without having earned it. Yet my choice of business attire diverts attention from my accomplishments and capabilities to what I happen to be wearing. “You’ll win that entire room over with those boots you got on” transformed over a decade of education, three years of solid work experience, and all of my hard-earned qualifications into nothing more than the product of a fashion choice.

This focus on a woman’s fashion choice, and its tendency to divert attention from her qualifications, exists in the legal profession as well. When 1L OCI was looming and the Career Services Office was giving students interview tips, I overheard one of my peers discussing fashion advice she had received. She had been told that female applicants ought to wear skirts to interviews. I wondered what purpose wearing a skirt to an interview could serve other than shifting the focus of the hiring process from the candidate’s capabilities to her looks, on display through her attire.

Thorstein Veblen notes that a woman wears evidently uncomfortable clothes so as to convey the fact that she “does not and cannot habitually engage in useful work.” The uncomfortable nature of women’s dress, according to Veblen, demonstrates their economic dependence on man and their husband’s “ability to pay.” So, it seems to me, wearing such attire to the workplace as a modern woman is a paradox. The modern working woman is independent, after all; she stands for the notion that women are equal to men as professionals. Veblen’s analysis of women’s dress should not apply to female professionals today.

Nonetheless, women such as myself continue to wear high-heeled shoes and skirts—which cause inefficiency and discomfort—to the workplace. Though I am not, and never will be, dependent on a man, I have grown to depend on the femininity and sense of empowerment that I attain through such attire. Many women maintain that they can perform to the best of their abilities even while donning a skirt and heels. Though I do not doubt that women can be efficient in such dress, I believe what is also important is how the woman is perceived and treated by her male colleagues. Even if a woman can be wholly productive in the workplace while sporting stilettos, there is still the possibility that her success is attributed to the stilettos rather than her abilities. Therein lies the true cost of a personal and seemingly innocent fashion choice.

One Small Step…

Recognizing that my business attire may have a bearing on my image as a female professional, I will make an effort to change my fashion choices. Gender equality in the workplace is a goal that must be approached slowly and steadily. Demeaning remarks regarding my attire or inappropriate attention given to what I wear during an interview are a few of the unfortunate realities I face as a female professional. Rather than accept these realities as just one of the “indignities” I must endure as a woman in the workplace, I choose to change my choices for business attire. Today, I will start by wearing only pants to the workplace. Someday I will abandon my high heels. In this way, I hope to stand on my own, without depending on my clothes for confidence. “Naked,” but for my intellect.