March 2023 DEI Committee Blog

Management has arranged professional headshots as a gift to all employees. You repeatedly ask to be notified in advance of the date in order to make a lengthy and expensive appointment to have your hair styled. The administrative team says not to worry, adding that you’ll “look great any day.” Their comments expose a complete lack of knowledge about the basics of maintaining and styling natural textured hair. Without proper notice, you will not be able to get the photograph you want.

You are excited to discuss major professional milestones in the annual performance review. Before addressing the substance of your role, your manager surprises you with some unexpected feedback: he recommends wearing earrings to appear more professional. Most metals irritate the sensitive skin around your head and neck. You save up for months to purchase a pair of gold studs that become a staple in your work wear. Months later, another colleague comments that you “must love them a lot since you wear them every day.”

Your boss asks you to have a woman-to-woman conversation with the new hire for an entry-level position about her attire. You learn that, without time or resources to invest in a tailored wardrobe of professional attire, she does her best to “dress up” more casual clothing she wore in college with ill-fitting donations from her mom and sister. You explain her appearance is impacting how she is perceived on the team and offer advice for closet staples to invest in early.

These were among the scenarios discussed at the March Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee meeting focused on Navigating Personal Appearance in the Workplace. Member Chris Metzler and Chairperson Gamble Hayden led the committee in a discussion about where our personal styling and gender expression “show up” at work. During the meeting, committee members shared experiences giving and receiving feedback on professional appearance, which ranged from effective mentorship to outright discrimination. 

Members discussed the healthy and principled habit of questioning the norms, assumptions, and biases we associate with professional appearance. In our workplaces and membership organizations like Women in Government Relations, we are constantly “re-coding” the dress code. We each bring our bodies to work, and consequently navigate many decisions about how personal styling can best support our work. Members elevated barriers created when dress codes are overly-restrictive, and named the importance of a wide variety of perspectives and views for diverse, equitable, and inclusive policy-making. 

We welcome all WGR members to join DEI Committee Meetings on the third Tuesday of each month. Register here for the next meeting on April 18 from 11:30 - 1pm Eastern Time. For more information on WGR’s DEI Committee, please reach out to dei.wgr@gmail.com.

DEI Committee Co-Vice Chair Larkin Willis authored this month’s blog.