Attire Etiquette: Dress Codes and Double Standards?

By Audrey Hwang

It took a long time for women to get equal rights in the workforce. In 1963, women finally guaranteed that they couldn't be given lower wages because of their gender. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited any discrimination based on sex. In 2023, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act required employers to provide accommodations for pregnant workers. All of these laws were created and passed as an effort to level the playing field in the workplace.

Yet in 2025, bias against women still exists. 

You would think that in a workplace, the most important aspect to what women is doing is the quality of work she is outputting. 

Women are already struggling to be taken seriously in the workplace and the smallest details end up perpetuating the cycle of sexism.

Often, the first thing a woman is judged on in the workplace is their appearance. Are her clothes ironed? Is her hair freshly done? Are her nails painted? 

There is a very thin line between looking plain or over the top. Lazy or made up. Unprofessional or stiff. Especially when a woman is first judged based on how they look rather than what they have done, it’s harmful to place such high standards.

The majority of women wear makeup to work on a regular basis.

78% of women admitted to spending an hour a day on their appearance. All of this effort, simply to be taken seriously.

All of this effort, simply to be taken seriously.

And if they don't, they look tired and sick.

The male gaze has quite literally looked down at women while sexualizing and diminishing their accomplishments. It boils down to: “if they don’t look perfect, they shouldn't be looked at at all”. This is a disgusting narrative that has gained popularity within the rise of societal expectations of how a woman should look.

Some waitresses have even been told that they aren’t allowed to begin her shift at a restaurant if she hadn’t done her make up for the day. This is an overlooked form of workplace discrimination that has been ignored for years.

Appearance doesn’t determine motivation, dedication, or ability. It simply determines how narrow minded the viewer is.

It doesn’t just limit itself to makeup, these expectations reach over into the realm of fashion as well.

Women are expected to wear nice clothes and suffer through hours of pain when wearing high heels. They walk around for hours, up and down floors, office to office, making sure that a business can properly function, yet those higher up still fail to understand the issues that this proposes.

Of course, this isn’t to say that one should go to work looking unprofessional. However, expecting a woman to come looking ‘perfect’ every day is unrealistic for anyone. There should not be an obligation to hide your ‘imperfections’ with makeup simply to look good for the male view.