Blog #23

The NPR interview panelists agree that historically, first ladies are held to a higher standard as they are the focus of attention by the media and the public. First lady Michelle Obama has been criticized for not holding the conservative standard set for the appearance of a President’s wife but then again we have to realize that the standard has been set by a white middle class woman. I agree that the whole issue has been blown out of proportion because how she dresses and whether she chooses to show off her legs (by wearing shorts) in 80-90 degree weather at the Grand Canyon or if she wears a sleeve-less dress, who cares! She has a great sense of modern fashion and just because she is not sporting the square suit we’re accustomed to seeing in the White House she doesn’t deserve to be criticized because after all, she is also an autonomous individual and she is free to wear what she is comfortable in.
The women that English interviewed give their accounts of being told how to dress to blend in with their male partners. One could not look to feminine or to masculine as they would risk losing a case for a client in court if they didn’t go in with a “power look.” As noted in chapter one, English found that in the gendered constructed society that we live in, women are perceived to be passive and therefore dismissed and this particularly holds true in the lawyer profession. Women lawyers are encouraged to be as unnoticed as possible as they could pose a distraction if they let their curves, hair or attractiveness be shown because an attractive woman is presumed to be incompetent whereas if you are unattractive that too could be a distraction.
In some professions, the way of dress could be an indicator of rebellion as in the case of the sixth year associate of large law firm in New York City. She woke up one morning and she felt it was too cold to wear a skirt suit and freeze her “butt off” as she put it therefore, she wore pants. Interestingly, in my place of employment at the Federal Court, it was only recent that women were allowed to wear pant suits because previously skirt suits and dresses were part of the dress requirement- a policy put in place by men as there is yet to be a woman to hold the position of Clerk of Court. I agree that times have changed but we have not quite achieved equality in the workplace as there is still a male standard that women are held up to.