It has been almost 5 years since this hashtag was trending and people till this day do not know about it. It may have started with one person and the hype may have died but the problem hasn’t been solved yet.
What is #DresslikeaWomen?
#Dresslikeawomen is about spreading gender equality in terms of how women dress. It’s purpose is to bring more freedom to what women can wear in a working environment. This hashtag started trending when a report was released about former President Trump, which claimed that the president said he prefers women who work for him to wear pantyhose and heels. The report obviously went viral and people became outraged. This video shows a snippet of how women reacted to this news. (Fortin).
Background:
Now before you all go blame Trump, there is a bit more to this story. Yes, the report claimed that Trump said that he wanted women who work for him to dress a certain way. Yet, this report, from Axois, has no evidence to support this claim. Additionally, the reporter went quiet once this started trending. In fact, some say that the reporter was fired or they were suspended. Once this report went viral, many twitter users started to use this hashtag to express a certain point: A woman’s ability to do her job well shouldn’t be based on her working attire. (Neal). People also started to dig up information on Trump and discovered that he was also criticized for throwing insults at female judges (for Miss Universe). He also received backlash when he he attacked people for commenting on his hands and hair yet,when he attacked women, he acted like people shouldn’t say anything. (McTeirnan).
Successful Elements:
For a successful social media campaign, there is criteria that should be met. One of which is that the campaign should be goal oriented. This was such a campaign. When you first hear the backstory of this campaign, it is kind of obvious what the goal is — to to prove Trump wrong. Women from every platform, mainly Twitter, were posting powerful women’s pictures with the hashtag, dress like a women. Even though Trump nor the White House haven’t said anything in return, the message was conveyed when the reporter, who wrote that statement, quit his job at Axois. Another successful element is to spread positive messages. Social media users wanted to prove Trump wrong, not to bring Trump down and make the whole world hate him, but to educate him. There are also a number of celebrities who participated in this campaign. A few of them are Gabrielle Birchak, Emily Calandrelli, Becky Sauerbrunn, John Scalzi, and vice president, Kamala Harris. To sum it up, #dresslikeawomen is very powerful.
The drawbacks:
There is no doubt that all campaigns have pros and cons. As successful as this campaign was, there are a few drawbacks. The first of which is that many people don’t even know what this campaign is about. A lot of them just reposted this message but had no intention of continuing this further. Also, this hashtag was only frequent on twitter and did not spread to any other social media platforms which further portrays the lack of enthusiasm in the people that are reposting this. Furthermore, this was only focused on repressing Trump. The main purpose of this campaign is to acknowledge and create awareness that a woman’s attire does not define her potential in a working environment. Most of the people just wanted to get back or release any baggage they had on Donald Trump. (Neal) Finally, this campaign was to bring/provide gender equality in workplaces. There is no need to oppress women through their clothing. As much as society has advanced in giving equality there are still some places that don’t and we need to change that. This campaign was a way of doing that, it’s purpose is not to criticize Trump.
Opinion:
Women have come a long way in workplaces and till to this day are fighting for equal pay. Even though women are generally not expected to show up in pantyhose and heels, there will always be a comparison to it. Studies reveal that women are more likely to get judged by their appearance than men. Another study also says that women and men were more likely to judge women’s job qualifications based on how they present themselves. (Neal). I feel the purpose of this campaign and how it started off was really good. But after that it didn’t grow anywhere. To improve the campaign they should have made it trend on other social media platforms to get the word around. People could have also had famous celebrities who impact society. I hope there won’t be any more stigma around women’s clothing anymore.
Works Cited:
Fortin, Jacey. “Dress Like a Woman? What Does That Mean?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 Feb. 2017, Date accessed: November 27 2020 www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/style/trump-women-dress-code-white-house.html.
“How to Really ‘Dress like a Woman’.” Youtube.com, Macleans, 8 Feb. 2017, Date accessed: November 27 2020 www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA_37gsAjbM.
McTeirnan, Anthea. “#DressLikeAWoman: What Will Trump’s White House Lady Dress Code Entail?” The Irish Times, The Irish Times, 3 Feb. 2017, Date accessed: November 27 2020 www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/dresslikeawoman-what-will-trump-s-white-house-lady-dress-code-entail-1.2962271.
Neal, Brandi. “‘Dress Like A Woman’ Twitter Hashtag Nails The Absurdity Of Dress Code Double Standards.” Bustle, Bustle, 3 Feb. 2017, Date accessed: November 27 2020 www.bustle.com/p/dress-like-a-woman-twitter-hashtag-nails-the-absurdity-of-dress-code-double-standards-35341.