Survey Shows that Women in the Workforce See Their Physical Appearance as Very Important

Reading through articles, I came across one that talked about how women themselves took a survey asking them if they thought their appearance was important to their job. The survey was conducted among female professionals, senior managers and business owners of PINK Magazine, a publication for career women, and Corset Personal Styling, a personal shopping company for women.

The results showed that nearly all U.S. working women believe that their professional appearance is crucial to success at work. One in five of these female executives say, according to the survey, that they have withheld a promotion or a raise due to the way an employee dresses Wulfhorst, 1). Only 2% of the women polled believed that they way they dress or have dressed in the past, has affected their careers in some way (Wulfhorst, 1). Fifty-five percent of these women said that they feel that they do not have anything to wear that would be appropriate so they wear the same things over and over again. Others say that they continue to buy things that look similar to things that they already have. Almost half of the women said that they feel they wear too much black.

I feel as though the survey that was given to these women shows what women really do feel about they way they dress in the workplace. Appearance is important, but it should not be everything. Someone should be picked to have a raise or be promoted because of the skills or knowledge they have. Believe it or not, it is discrimination when someone is picked for a job because of the way they are dressed rather than because they are qualified. There could be someone else who is a lot more qualified for the job than they are even though they may not have "good fashion sense."

Wulfhorst, Ellen. "U.S. working women see appearance as key: survey." Www.reuters.com. Ed. Michelle Nichols and Xavier Briand. Thompson Reuters Corporate, 14 Oct. 2009. Web. 23 Oct. 2009. .