Professional women in the workplace, if you are thinking of or planning to march in to the boss’ office to negotiate a higher salary or demand that promotion you deserve and have been repeatedly passed over for, please pause. And read on.
It Is Hard To Get By Just Upon A Smile
However, a polished face undeniably gets at least one half of humanity through plenty more open doors and up against way less glass ceilings in our modern workforce. As much as we all may hate to admit this, especially in the face of our feminist foremothers who fought long and hard, beginning the latest wave in the modern “feminist movement” in the 1970’s. Women really do do better in the real world when wearing our makeup, girls.
But, we must face facts if we desire furthering our mission. Most of our coworkers and bosses are men. Most men find women wearing make-up, even subtle “natural looking” make-up, to be markedly more attractive on every level, personally and professionally alike. These are not opinions, these are statements based of evidence-based research, and if we want to stare down the injustice inherent in this fact, well then we must understand exactly what it is we are looking at.
The recent study from researchers Jacyln Wong of the University of Chicago and Andrew Penner of the University of California at Irvine — titled “Gender and the Returns to Attractiveness”, found that appearance and personal grooming habits matter when it comes to getting hired, being promoted and earning a higher paycheck. But, keyword being but, they matter differently for men and women.
Put Your Makeup On – Put Your Best Face Forward
After researching the correlation between the attractiveness and average income of 14,000 people, it was discovered that among young professionals- between the ages of 24 and 32- the women who put more time, money and effort into all of that grooming gained direct benefits in the workplace. Whereas the men studied benefited by simply looking good naturally. This is confirmation of sexism in society, and specifically our workplaces, which has long been reported.
So, the young working woman says, I have to spend an extra 20 minutes in front of the mirror each and every morning, simply because I am carrying two X chromosomes rather than an X and a Y, and therefore have developed so-called female sex traits and characteristics? Why, yes, indeed, that is precisely the point.
Why, we may stop to wonder at this point, are human beings seemingly the only species in the animal kingdom where it is the female who expresses these more colorful, flamboyant and “showy” sex traits? It fascinates me to no end that we continuously see, across the board of species, all critters expressing and expecting these sexy, check-me-out, come-hither tendencies, and necessities, in the male sex of the species. Think about that. But I do digress.
What’s With The Clown Face?
For those of you out there who are already cringing, imagining the power suits and horrifyingly intense and almost fluorescent colored make-up style popular in the 1980’s, have no fear. I believe what we are talking about here, in 2016, is the more subtle, natural, practically unnoticed look that can be created and achieved now not only by professional makeup artists, but every average working woman. The newest tools and products allow for flawless application, even “airbrushing” foundation, blush and eye shadow are now available for purchase.
Because of such a renewed interest in modern make-up products (the ingredients) and their application, both temporarily and permanently (tattooed makeup) the esthetician job market opens up and expands, with no end in sight. Take note that the study found, “Although appearance and grooming have become increasingly important to men, beauty work continues to be more salient for women because of cultural double standards with very strict prescriptions for women.” I guess there is a way to put a positive spin on this news. Lighten up!
(Guess what? A woman wrote this. She wasn’t wearing makeup and Emmy did a good job with it. I’m guessing I/we would have liked it better if she put her face on first.)
