A Leg Up
Showing some cleavage in the boardroom may seem harmless.
But a small step for a woman may be a giant leap back for womankind.
It was a typical girls’ night of chatting and watching TV when we settled on a reality show which had the contestants scrambling their way around the city to prove their business acumen plus their adability, drive, and determination to succeed. The challenge this particular week was to sell the most candy bars. My friends and I watched as two of the women gear up for the task. Their business tactic: wearing their most provocative clothes and batting their lengthy eyelashes at potential customers. One outright dropped her skirt on Wall Street to sell a candy bar for $20.
The moment the woman’s integrity dropped below her knees, the boom of our collective reactions – ranging from, “That is so humiliating to women!” to “For 20 bucks? I’d do the same thing!” – drowned out the rest of the show. I don’t know if any woman out there is free of an opinion when it comes to the idea of using feminine wiles – bartering sexuality by flirting or behaving and dressing provocatively – to get ahead. By definition, all three of those women on that episode were utilizing their feminine wiles in hopes of winning the challenge. Though my friends and I did not engage in a shouting match until the skirt-dropping incident, I personally didn’t think that the two who dressed in low-cut halters and flashed their charms to sell some sugar were any different than the one who disrobed in public. However, even among women, opinions greatly vary regarding where to draw the line between appropriate and downright bad form when it comes to climbing the ladder of success.
In a world of biases based on nepotism, education and wealth, not to mention the whole “it’s all about who you know” mentality, it’s difficult to be idealistic and confident when it comes to relying on one’s own talent and drive to get ahead. Such cynicism could make a case for the use of feminine wiles. But what about the feminist in each of us that wants to be taken seriously and treated as an equal, not as a sex object? If a woman uses her feminine wiles to get ahead, it makes everyone wonder if she would have been able to get that promotion, raise or improved status without employing her sexuality. When this happens, the consequences may be an individual step forward for that particular woman, but an unconscious step back for the rest of us.
When an attractive woman gets hired for a job, her Plain Jane sister with the same merits who vied for the same position may complain that physicality was the deciding factor. Whether that claim holds truth or not, there is no reason an attractive woman should downplay her beauty for the sake of preserving professional legitimacy. Life is unfair, yes, but how we decide to present ourselves shows the salt of our worth. However, there is such a thing as taking this use of physical attributes too far.
The mentality that women need some extra help in order to be on the same playing field as men is one we need to shed, once and for all. The fact is, it’s blazingly untrue. We would be more productive in analyzing where to draw the line between preserving our integrity and dignity, and running the risk of degrading our reputation in order to achieve our goals. Against who or what is it that we, as women, evaluate ourselves? At first, it may seem to be the successful man in the room; the one who is perhaps making the decision about our future. But in truth, what drives us is almost always the triumphs and setbacks of our own personal lives and those of women in general. Inferiority complexes develop as a result and may be to blame for a reliance on sexual wiles.
Ironically, a vicious cycle is created – women utilize feminine wiles to get what they want, and as a result, all women are perceived as unequal to men. This leads to many social ramifications such as females being paid less for the same work as males. It comes full circle when women believe that some additional pull—our feminine wiles—is needed to hoist us to the level of men.
There will always be ethical controversy surrounding the constitution and use of feminine wiles for upward mobility and gain. The simple truth is, it’s not very difficult to determine what is the right thing to do to move up in the world and what is inappropriate. As long as a woman is not negotiating her sexuality as a means of getting something she wants, she is not crossing into dangerous territory. When she is confident in herself and her ability, a woman does not need to reveal her cleavage or flash some leg in order to promote herself. And she certainly doesn’t need to drop her skirt on Wall Street. By Stephanie Wang
