Brains and beauty?

Anushae Fecto explains why we shouldn’t trust the media’s inaccurate portrayal of career women…

When I think of a successful high-power career woman, the first images that come to mind are of fashionable career women in London and New York. Films have become saturated with female characters who have made it to the top of their careers and still have time to go on regular rendezvous with their girlfriends, run about town doing errands in Louboutins, and end the night at a fabulous gala event, all whilst maintaining perfectly manicured nails. These characters seems to have the perfect life, but is this fictonal stereotype something we should really aspire to?

Popular media has altered our assumptions about what it means to be a successful career woman. It’s time to take a look at the myths often embraced by popular media and separate them from reality.

 trading in a ratty old jumper for a stylish Chanel dress and getting a new haircut is definitely not the recipe for success at work.

Myth #1: A makeover can make you more successful at work. This is evident in the majority of working girl representations. In The Devil Wears Prada, Anne Hathaway achieves success at work only after getting a major makeover and dropping two dress sizes. Ugly Betty’s glasses and braces are the constant objects of ridicule amongst her fashionista coworkers, and she’s rarely taken seriously by them despite the hard work she puts into her job. This isn’t just true for those working in the fashion industry but in the majority or firms and businesses. The 80’s film Working Girl contains the quote for all working girls to live by (apparently) “Dress shabbily, they notice the dress. Dress impeccably, they notice the woman – Coco Chanel!”

While looking good may boost your confidence, in reality, trading in a ratty old jumper for a stylish Chanel dress and getting a new haircut is definitely not the recipe for success at work.

Myth #2: A booming social life is mandatory for success at work. Women have to be able to manage a ‘fabulous’ social life whilst bringing their A-game to work. While networking and making contacts will help you succeed professionally, television shows such as Sex and the City make it look like every successful career woman is simultaneously a socialite painting the town red every night.

In reality, most nine-to-five jobs make it pretty difficult to have daily lunches with ‘the girls’, and nightly barhopping in the big city impossible.

Photo: AnnieAnniePancake/Flickr

Myth #3: Breaking rules and playing dirty is apart of making it to the top. “I’m not gonna spend the rest of my life working my ass off and getting nowhere just because I followed rules that I had nothing to do with setting up”. This quote from Working Girl presents a common assumption made by many popular media representations of career women; breaking rules and manipulating men is mandatory for success in man’s world. In How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Kate Hudson subjects Matthew McConaughey to days of (hilarious) mental torture and public embarassment so she can publish a daring article and win credit with her boss. The film sends the message that sometimes ethics have to come second if you want to be successful, but in real life, shouldn’t hard work and dedication be enough to make it? Do we really need to scheme and break rules to be successful?

Myth #4: You will make it big! Success in every aspect of your life is guaranteed in the end.

Pretty much all of these fictional woman couldn’t afford the fancy apartments they live in and the expensive clothes they buy with their salary in the real world. Think one day you’ll be able to brag about your walk-in wardrobe stuffed with Valentino gowns likes Carrie’s? Not on a freelance journalist’s salary you won’t! Having it all is an unrealistic goal; expecting one day to be able to perfectly juggle work, relationships, and your health is, let’s be honest, never going to happen.

So in the next few weeks (or years) when you’re considering your job options, don’t expect to be able to ‘fall into’ a job at Vogue and look fabulous whilst running around London with a Starbucks. We must realize that works of fiction are just fiction! It’s important to be realistic about our expectations and strive towards attainable goals- knowing that hard work and credentials beats regular trips to the salon when it comes to success.