For women in workplace, it's still about looks

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to students at Dhaka International School.

By Eve Tahmincioglu

For women and their careers, its often not about what they do but how they look. More proof of that came last week.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made headlines around the world not for anything she did but because she appeared without makeup on a trip to Bangladesh.

Hillary Clinton addresses au naturale liberation, saidpolitical blog The Drudge Report, while trend site Styleite.com declared that Clinton just wants to be normal and do things like wear her hair in a scrunchie, party with her girlfriendsand go out without a stitch of makeup.

The kicker was Englands Daily Mail, which said Clintons momentsans makeupmade her look tired and withdrawn.

Similarly former News International CEORebekah Brooksdrew angry comments Friday not just for her role in a phone hacking scandal but for her appearance, especially her curly red hair, when she testified before a British government inquiry led by Lord Justice Leveson.

AFP/Getty Images

Former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks, testifies at the Leveson Inquiry.

Here are some of the popular Brooks tweets for the day:

• Adateforyourdiary/RebekahBrooks,attheinquiry/Hairand temperament,fiery/Words,liary
• RebekahBrooks. We get it. You have lots of curly red hair, but! wearing Orphan Annie's dress to the Leveson hearing? Seriously?

Theres even a Facebook page dedicated to Brooks' hair, called Rebekah Brook's hair is so big because it's full of secrets.

It goes to show that no matter how high up in business or politics a woman gets or how hard she falls in the end the focus is often about how she looks and not what she does.

Were still held to a double standard, said Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who produced the 2011 documentary Miss Representationabout the underrepresentation of women in powerful positions.

Its tragic, she said. We have an obsession with womens looks. Unfortunately our culture has bought into this whole double standard that a womens value is her beauty not her capacity to lead.

The Look: Hillary Clinton doesn't care if you see her without makeup

Women certainly feel the pressure to look good. Nearly half of women dont feel good about themselves unless theyre wearing makeup, according to a study released this year by the Renfrew Center Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on eating disorder research and treatment.

The online study, conducted by Harris Interactive for Renfrew, polled nearly 1,300 adult women and found 44 percent "have negative feelings when they are not wearing makeup," including feeling self-conscious, unattractive or that something is missing. Only 3 percent said going without makeup made them feel more attractive.

Wearing makeup to enhance ones appearance is normal in our society and often a rite of passage for young women, said Adrienne Ressler, national training director for Renfrew and a body image expert. There is concern, however, when makeup! no long er becomes a tool for enhancement but rather a security blanket that conceals negative feelings about ones self-image and self-esteem.

Many women trying to climb the ladder of success believe they need to enhance their looks or face career doom.

This goes to the heart of what we still see in the work world today, said Nancy Mellard, general counsel for business services company CBIZ, which offers a program todevelop of women professionals through focused leadership, mentoring and networking. Whether youre coming up the career path or at the height of your career like Clinton, we still see women, certainly more than men, judged on appearance not accomplishments.

While blatant discrimination in the workplace is less common than it was 20 years ago, she said, there are still subtle biases that may be hardest to combat.

TODAY Style: Kathie Lee, Hoda dare to bare (their faces)

One study sponsored by the Womens Media Center and She Should Run,a group advocating for more women in public leadership, found that sexist comments about female candidates, including critiques on appearance, lead voters to question how effective they would be.

Often the people bashing how women look are other women. Were some of the worst, Mellard said.

Newsom agreed. It speaks to our own insecurities. We are complicit and have also bought into this, and the only way to change things is for women to start seeing each other more as sisters and supporting, not judging each other.

TODAY's Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb have nothing to hide. The co-hosts bare it all and wear no makeup on the show. See who else is exposed without makeup.

Judging each other based on looks, however, is a reality we all have to face because theres a "beauty benefit" for men as we! ll as wo men in the workplace.

Research by economists has shown that beautiful people, both men and women, have higher pay than less attractive people, holding constant many other factors about the individuals, said Anne York, associate professor of economics at Meredith Colleges School of Business. So it really does pay for everyone to look good for work.

In the case of Hillary Clinton, though, it was quite ridiculous to me that when she went with a natural face, which millions of men do every day, that it made the news with close-up photos of her face," she added. " While her appearance made a lot of news, I dont think that is necessarily bad if it can start a conversation on accepting more women with a natural appearance.

Of course, men canfall victim to image-bashing as well.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergs hoodie has been a hot topic on social media lately. But unlike attacks on Clintons face or Brooks hair, theres little fear hoodiegate will undermine the main power base in the business world today rich white guys.

Related:

Facebook IPO pits Wall Street suits against the hoodie

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Are women still judged by their looks in the workplace?