- Reaction score
- 4,504
I don't deny there is indeed residual sexism in the workplace (well, not in mine, because my boss is a woman; my last job's boss was a woman too).
But I find it absurd that some people still think they are hindered in their way to success because think they have too good hair, or too attractive features.
I think it is particularly offensive because the solution to their problem is actually making their hair different, which is something we "others" will never be able to do: ugly down.
This was on the homepage of the BBC (not precisely the daily mail) some days ago:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-41082939
100 Women: ‘I dye my hair brown to be taken more seriously at work’
By Sarah Buckley and Amelia Butterly
A Silicon Valley CEO reveals her secret to getting ahead in business - dyeing her blonde hair brow
Eileen Carey is a successful CEO, in her early 30s, with glasses and brown hair.
But she didn't always look the way she does now.
"The first time I dyed my hair was actually due to advice I was given by a woman in venture capital," she says.
Carey was told that the investors she was pitching to would feel more comfortable dealing with a brunette, rather than a blonde woman.
"I was told for this raise [of funds], that it would be to my benefit to dye my hair brown because there was a stronger pattern recognition of brunette women CEOs," she explains.
Pattern recognition is a theory which suggests people look for familiar experiences - or people - which in turn can make them feel more comfortable with the perceived risks they are taking.
When she had blonde hair, Eileen says she was likened to Elizabeth Holmes, whose company Theranos has been through a lot of controversy.
"Being a brunette helps me to look a bit older and I needed that, I felt, in order to be taken seriously," Carey says.
But I find it absurd that some people still think they are hindered in their way to success because think they have too good hair, or too attractive features.
I think it is particularly offensive because the solution to their problem is actually making their hair different, which is something we "others" will never be able to do: ugly down.
This was on the homepage of the BBC (not precisely the daily mail) some days ago:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-41082939
100 Women: ‘I dye my hair brown to be taken more seriously at work’
By Sarah Buckley and Amelia Butterly
A Silicon Valley CEO reveals her secret to getting ahead in business - dyeing her blonde hair brow
Eileen Carey is a successful CEO, in her early 30s, with glasses and brown hair.
But she didn't always look the way she does now.
"The first time I dyed my hair was actually due to advice I was given by a woman in venture capital," she says.
Carey was told that the investors she was pitching to would feel more comfortable dealing with a brunette, rather than a blonde woman.
"I was told for this raise [of funds], that it would be to my benefit to dye my hair brown because there was a stronger pattern recognition of brunette women CEOs," she explains.
Pattern recognition is a theory which suggests people look for familiar experiences - or people - which in turn can make them feel more comfortable with the perceived risks they are taking.
When she had blonde hair, Eileen says she was likened to Elizabeth Holmes, whose company Theranos has been through a lot of controversy.
"Being a brunette helps me to look a bit older and I needed that, I felt, in order to be taken seriously," Carey says.
