I put this up because we are so accustomed to seeing women and men dressed like this that we don't even see the disparity any more. I'm hoping readers will really see this sort of thing in the future. Women are expected to dress 'like women.' They are allowed to dress dress like men to the extent they may wear pants. Male candidates would never show up a debate dressed like the female candidate in this picture. That alone tells us about male/female equality and power.
I think candidates in a debate like this should be asked about what they are wearing and how it reflects the power of men and women in our society.
And I suspect everyone responds, viscerally, a little differently. Do the bare legs enhance the woman's appeal to voters? Distract from what she says? How would the man wearing shorts affect voters? There's a lot more to unpack from this picture.
[The picture is from the LA Times and is of Jackie Lacey and George Gascón both running for Los Angeles County District Attorney. Photo by Irfan Khan]
Actually the woman in the photo doesn't have bare legs, she has dark hose. By contrast, the great majority of women seem to go bare legged these days (which seems terribly informal to me, as well as terribly uncomfortable).
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about it till this post, but I'm going to start noticing whether female candidates are wearing stockings or not!