Being a woman in the workplace is not easy—especially in career fields dominated by men. Aside from a very real pay gap in terms of how women’s labor is compensated in comparison to men’s, women are also often subjected to sexism and harassment at work. Women in the television industry are also very likely to experience this kind of behavior—especially given the heavy emphasis on looks and overall appearance. From the words of current and former broadcasters in Boston, they are generally asked by management to dress sexier in order to get attention.
Current and former female broadcasters in Boston tell stories about wardrobe consultants hired by station management pushing clothing that some on-air talent don’t want to wear; women crying in the makeup room because they feel pressured to dress a certain way; a modestly dressed anchor being asked to dress like a sexier new colleague who wore her skirts short and her tops unbuttoned.
No woman was willing to go on the record with their experiences—which gives insight into how difficult careers in broadcast journalism can be for women and the type of backlash they face when they speak out. But their experiences are deeply degrading and a reminder that we have so much more work to do when it comes to gender equality.
One former local on-air personality told the Globe she was once called into her news director’s office and told the blazer she had worn the day before wasn’t shapely enough. “He said it was ‘too boxy,’ ” she said. [...]
One broadcaster in Boston, who spoke to the Globe on the condition of anonymity for fear of damaging her career, said management at her station has told women to wear “tighter, smaller, shorter, more revealing clothes.”
The fact that appearance is part of the job makes this aspect of sexism harder to name and more difficult to deal with. After all, viewers want to see TV personalities of all genders dressed in their finest and looking nice. Yet, women are often asked to dress in provocative ways which are inappropriate for the job. They reported feeling deeply uncomfortable with being asked to dress to emphasize their body parts rather than their skills. It also reinforces a very old dynamic which keeps women as sex objects rather than full human beings.
Terry Ann Knopf, author of “The Golden Age of Boston Television ,” and a former TV critic, blames the alluring outfits in part on male executives who are playing the “sex” card in competitive times.
“It’s what’s called ‘the male gaze,’ in which on-air women continued to be sexualized,” she said. “It has become a new sexism which, in many ways, is not all that different from the old sexism.”
This kind of thing not only creates a workplace that is uncomfortable and hostile toward women, it also has an impact on their self-esteem and takes away from their ability to do their jobs. This is a profession. Women study for this work and undergo years of training to hone their craft. Reducing them to body parts who simply fill the clothes they have on, ignores the work they’ve put in to get them on TV in the first place. And, let’s not forget—we’d never ask men to dress provocatively for ratings. Women should be able to wear want they want and look good in—whatever that is. Period. TV viewers will be just fine. When we stop policing women’s bodies and let them be, the sooner we’ll take a step toward equality.