Shirley Ann M. sent in this picture of a car advertising Skill Maids:
She says,
I was blown away by the blatant sexual stereotyping in this picture: the maid in high heels, bent over with knees together, Jessica Rabbit figure.
Well, Shirley, what you don’t understand, and what I can tell you because my mom cleaned houses for a living when I was a kid, is that there is no more better outfit to wear for efficiently cleaning a large house than a dress and heels. See, the heels make you taller, so it’s easier to dust the top shelves!
Thanks, Shirley!
Comments 5
OTM — September 23, 2008
That reminds me of my mother, who was an RN. She would get so fed up with depictions of nurses wearing high heels on TV and in the movies. I think having her acknowledge that what I saw was not always reflective of reality was the genesis of my critical thinking skills. And probably my feminism, too.
This episode of Sarah Haskins' brilliant "Target: Women" is relevant to your post as well: http://current.com/items/89317322_target_women_cleaning.
Le — September 23, 2008
If only men knew what it felt like to wore heels....
http://covergirlsthedocumentary.blogspot.com/2008/04/walk-mile-in-her-shoes.html
Tim — September 23, 2008
A maid in a maid uniform! What next!? A lumberjack wearing flannel!?
Gwen Sharp, PhD — September 23, 2008
Well, if I start seeing pictures of sexualized lumberjacks wearing skimpy flannel with fishnets as a way of convincing me to buy their services, I'll be a bit startled, yes.
Drew — September 24, 2008
Wow. I'm choking back the sarcasm reflex here.
The goal here is to reflect critically on the images you're presented with and challenge, rather than accept at face value, the underlying assumptions presented therein.
So let's look at 2 issues:
1) The pictures does not depict a maid uniform. It depicts a stylized, archaic stereotype of same. It is in effect a *symbol*, representing "maid". While there may still be maid-services in which this style of dress is employed, I would suggest that these would be exceptional.
2) Whether we look at the costume as a symbol or as legitimate workwear, the question that follows is: how did this costume come to serve that function. Who got to decide on the uniform? What assumptions underlie the cultural value of the image as a symbol?
If maids themselves picked the uniform because it was best to work in, the "uniform" theory has different implications than if the people the maids served picked the uniform based on paternalistic concerns or a desire to emphasize certain features of the relationship, such as to highlight the inferiority of status of one party to the other. Caveat: It might not be either/or.
Changing gears:
I would think that this manner of dress was conceived of in a time when women were not permitted to wear pants. Whatever utility it may have had back then should surely be evaluated in light of the contermporary alternatives.