The Wardrobe Gap

On June 6th, Uber fired 20 employees involved in a disturbing sexual harassment scandal. The story revealed a total of 215 human-resource claims were filed involving discrimination, sexual harassment, unprofessional behavior and more. This incident, coupled with the 10-page anti-diversity manifesto published by a now ex-Google employee, have brought Silicon Valley’s deep-rooted culture of male chauvinism to the forefront of our news cycle. We have learned from these stories about the blatant harassment that exists in the startup and tech industry, but there continue to be day-to-day prejudices that women face which may not be quite as “news-worthy”.

In truth, women face subtle discriminations at work every single day. Many of them, considered unintentional or harmless, are starting to garner more attention. Women like Sheryl Sandberg have shed light on the ambition gap; the idea that, from a very young age, girls are taught that being assertive and strong is negative and “bossy”. The wage gap has been given more attention than ever before thanks to women with a platform, like Jennifer Lawrence who brought the pay discrepancies in Hollywood to light. There is yet another gap women face in the workplace. Over the past three years, we have observed it and discussed it with our customers. In the last 6 months, we have dedicated significant time to researching this gap because we feel that it deserves even greater attention. We call it the wardrobe gap.

We define the wardrobe gap as the difference in expectation society has for how men and women present themselves in the workforce. We, as a society, have high expectations for how women should look while at work — especially if she is a manager or senior-level leader. She must look polished, put together, sophisticated, and, of course, conservative. Her clothes can’t be too tight, or too short, or too trendy. On the flip side, we pay very little attention to what a man wears to work. In fact, we glorify tech startup founders who wear beat up hoodies. And we look down on women who wear bright color nail polish or a form-fitting dress.

The wardrobe gap has been engrained in society for centuries, just like the other gaps. We consciously and subconsciously consider appearance when judging a woman’s job performance. Research shows that women wearing makeup are found to be more competent, likable and trustworthy than women wearing little to no makeup. Women must consider their appearance at all times because women are graded not only on their work, but also how they look while they do it.

We’ve spent the last three years talking to women about their wardrobes — and the effects their clothes had at work. They generally come to us when they’ve changed jobs or are looking to level-up at their current workplace. They need a wardrobe that reflects the level of leadership they want to show at work. Over and over again, we hear stories of dress codes (both formal and informal), office politics and hostile management that caused confusion as well as stress and anxiety about what to wear. So, we set out to do more research to understand what exactly is going on, and open the conversation up to a larger audience. The following data and insights come from more than 1,000 women in our customer base. It was gathered via survey, focus groups and many one-on-one conversations.

Women feel the effects of the wardrobe gap every day. In fact, 77% of our customer base believes the way they look directly influences their success at work.

And this affects the way they feel about their wardrobes, 84% of our customer base have negative to neutral feeling about their wardrobes.

It also affects how they thinks about themselves, the women we surveyed said they feel good about their appearance only 50% of the time.

From surveys and focus groups, we’ve gathered hundreds of examples of the pressure women feel to look a certain way at work.

“I work in an industry that is male dominated. When I was in my first creative leadership role, less than 5% of creative leadership roles were held by women. For me, the more polished and personal style I feel I have, the more confident I feel about the fact I’m taken seriously.”

There is a lot of pressure to wear the “right” thing. Women in the world of casual tech must ride a fine line of looking sophisticated and put-together without looking too professional and stuffy.

“It’s so hard to dress as a woman in tech. I look like I’m 18 so I try and dress on the more professional side, but then co-workers tell me I’m overdressed. The guys all wear jeans and polo shirts/button ups all the time. It’s awful and also confusing.”

And women in higher education described the pressure to appear polished and professional as “crucial” to their success.

“I am a professor in the humanities at a large state university. While there is no specific dress code, as a younger woman starting out in the profession (it is my first post-PhD job), I feel it is crucial to present a professional appearance in class and at meetings and conferences.”

On top of that, we heard from many women that they don’t want to look like they’re trying too hard. They fear there will be judgment if they look like too much time was spent on getting ready.

“I’m an academic in a male-dominated field. I don’t want to look like I spend a lot of time thinking about my clothing, but I don’t want to look like one of the guys, either.”

And while women spend a lot of time thinking about what they should wear to work, we heard from many women that their male counterparts don’t have the same thoughts and considerations.

“It’s tough being one of few women in my office. The men seem to be able to get away with sweaters and shorts. Whereas I’d probably get fired for looking like them.”

We do not yet have a solution, but we hope that by identifying this prevalent issue women will start to talk about it more. And perhaps, we will consider in more depth how our clothing and appearance affects our day-to-day life and ability to succeed in the workplace. In doing this research, we found that the simple act of sharing and discussing this issue had a significantly positive effect. Women walked away from the experience feeling as though they were not alone in their frustration. Our goal is to facilitate more of this discussion and cultivate a community that supports one another in breaking down the persistent need to look or act a specific way.

Interested in participating in the discussion? Have a story you’d like to share about how clothing and appearance affects you in the workplace? We want to hear it! We will be publishing stories on this topic in our blog, The Workroom.