Sexuality v. Intelligence: Are Women to Blame?

Question: Do women hold some responsibility in how they are treated and percieved in the workplace? If so, does this affect how we are respected as coworkers and equals?

Scenario: You're watching ESPN and a female anchor comes on who looks to be in her mid 20s, has a very pretty face and appears to have spent at least 3 hours in make up before the show. As a man, her appearance may strike you momentarily. In fact, unless she's wearing a lowcut blouse, you might no even blink twice before becoming distracted with the score windows and game ticker on the bottom screen. If you are particularly sexist, you might even be driven to drown out her voice in the assumption that women know nothing about sports.

Now, if you're a women, you're probably more inclined to go through a series of emotions. You are probably checking out her hair, makeup and outfit with a fine toothed comb trying to determine if this is how she normally dresses or if it's just a "costume" for work. You might be wondering whether she really knows what she's talking about and mockig her voice every time she giggles or misspeaks. Granted, you never once stop to think if you are judging her male counterparts with the same scrutiny. In fact, you've probably changed the channel by now and decided that she was only hired for looks alone. Believe me, I've gone through this without even realizing it.

Thoughts: What just happened? This is the backlash of women in the workplace alongside men. For men, there will always be the initial instinct to "check a girl out" on looks alone. And all women know this by now. It is this fact which keep women painfully aware of their appearance even when those around them no longer compelled to notice them physically. You never know when you'll meet someone new or run into an old friend. So, you have to look good at all times. Afterall, even we women judge other women by how they look before speaking with them.

Look at the second scenario. As soon as we see another woman, we are inspecting everything about her. She is, afterall, our competition. Even if you don't want to work for ESPN as a news anchor, maybe you love sports or have a boyfriend or husband who does. Because of this, the scenario has been created in your mind to not only be more knowledgable than her in sports but also, to look more attractive. Insanity.

So why do we think this way? Well, I cannot speak for all women, but I know why I do; it's an instinct to keep what I have worked for and validate my own achievements. Unecessary to the rational mind, of course. But as human beings we are emotional and instinctual, sometimes, before the rational mind has time to comprehend what has occured. In fact, I find myself constantly invalidating the intelligence of female coworkers simply vased on the level of their "sexiness". It's the mentality that one cannot possibly invest the time needed for both study and education while also maintaing physical form and taste in clothing/makeup. Of course, as a woman I should know this to be false.

A recent study was performed by Columbia University to compare the relative mentality of men and women in the workplace. http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/rfisman/gendercompetition_19dec06_rf.pdf showed evidence that women are more wary of and judgemental of their competition, i.e. other women. This drives them to act more negatively and prejudge other women more harshly. In fact, very little respect or merit is attributed to successful women whereas a man is more likely to believe she was promoted for her skill, a woman will assume it is "luck" or "looks" which propels women forward.

Another social study conducted by the NY Daily News surveyed the instinctual perception people hold regarding women in the workplace based solely on how they are dressed. They took one 30-something woman and put her in work pants, a suit jacket and button up shirt with flat heels. Her hair was pulled back and her makeup kept minimal. On perception alone, she was sent to several interviews with a preset resume highlighting her impressive career and education. The same woman was dressed more provocatively in a flowy knee-length skirt, a button up blouse and heels. Her hair was down and her make up more flashy. Still professional, just sexy. She was given the same resume and attended interviews as well. Then each outfit was tested with a less-than-favorable resume highlighting her lack of experience and a willingness to learn.

The results were as follows: Though men admitted in exit interviews that they were more aware of the feminity of the "more flattering" look initially, it was the less-flattering resume which mattered more than the woman's outfit. Sadly, over 70% of the female interviewers were more impressed by the dress styles of the interviewee than her resume. More women would have hired the good outfit/bad resume woman over the bad outfit/good resume one. Shocking? Not really.

Closing: So how can we fix this? If it is an instinct, it is not something which we can trully "ignore" or "fix". What we can do, however, is adjust our actions as the men have. You first have to embrace your instincts as a part of who you are. Men are inclined to think sexually of every woman they meet. However, that does not give them the free reign to act on it. The same goes for women. Though we are rigged to propel ourselves above the flock by highlighting the flaws of each woman we meet, it is doing a diservice to all of us if we are too vocal about our opinions. That's all they are; opinions. If you think someone is an "unintelligent tramp trying to sleep her way to the top" maybe she is. But maybe you're wrong. And in the effort to keep yourself on top you might end up making yourself look bad as well as dragging down the name of someone you may have called 'friend'. So watch your mouth, watch your actions and try to give women the same benefit of doubt you wish others would give you.