Very important is the only truthful answer.

Few subjects generate as much passion in women as what to wear to work does. The reasons for the sensitivity and the emotion are complex social and gender issues, but I think it boils down to women resisting their long history of being judged by how they look.

In business avoid playing the games associated with choosing clothes just to please or to emulate men; or to mimic harmful stereotypes of beauty and success. Sadly, many women are drawn to these behaviors in business. However, it is also harmful to ride the pendulum swing to the other extreme where you are deluded into thinking that appearance does not matter.

The blunt truth is that, regardless of whether you are a man or a woman, how you dress at work affects how you are perceived. How you are perceived at work affects how you succeed. Many people use clothing to make all sorts of life statements. If you do this in the business world you place a self-imposed obstacle in your own way.

Women's resistance to being judged by how they look often makes them defiant of what they fear are the "old ways." Women sometimes take an opposite stance, and proclaim that how they dress should not matter. They insist that the quality and quantity of their work is how they should be judged. They state that they do not have the time or money or inclination to pursue and maintain someone else's stereotype of how a successful woman should dress at work. They are liberated feminists, free of the bondage and oppression of the past.

They are also women who, regardless of their talent, will rarely thrive in business. Of course there are exceptions, but do you want to play the long odds that you will be the rare exception? That is a foolish risk.

The technology industry in particular is rife with misconceptions about dress and achievement. The new media has its roots in a culture of outsiders who don't care about appearance, and whose disdain of conformity and rules is a badge of honor. Women have achieved great success in new media careers, but if women continue to buy into that culture of outsiders who don't care about appearance, women's success in business will be hurt. When gender resistance (to being judged by looks) is added to this culture, women have a lot of issues and emotion to master.

How you are perceived in the workplace has a subtle, but significant, affect on how you and your work are judged. Women can increase their professionalism by dressing as a professional. Do men in power just enjoy wearing suits and ties to work? That is hardly why men do it. The successful men I know dress in business attire because they recognize the proven value of a professional appearance in business.

Women have to get past their issues and emotions about what they wear to work. Women need to act on the fact that appearance is a differentiator in business, and use this knowledge to their advantage.

It is much easier, and much more comfortable, for women to deny that appearance counts. But what is the point of denying or ignoring that reality? There is no point. What do women gain by pretending (or wishing) that it is not true? Women gain nothing.

It is true that for women there are special traps that men do not have to consider when they dress for work each day. That is another fact that is not going to be wished away. Don't avoid these traps by putting yourself at a disadvantage in business. Instead, learn what they are and act appropriately. Women have to be willing and able to use every business tool, including dress, to enhance their careers.

The advice I always give when I am asked about how to dress for work is very simple: "Dress as you want to be paid."

The Dress Code series will continue next week with answers to DC Web Women questions about how to do just that.

Copyright © 1998, 1999 by D.E. Summerville. All rights reserved.

The advice and suggestions in the Women in Business column are solely those of the author. DC Web Women assumes no responsibility for its content.

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