Table Of ContentIowa State University Capstones, Theses and
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
Dissertations
1994
Business women's appearance management, career
development and sexual harassment
Patricia Anne Kimle
Iowa State University
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Kimle, Patricia Anne, "Business women's appearance management, career development and sexual harassment " (1994).Retrospective
Theses and Dissertations. 11279.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/11279
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Business women's appearance management, career development,
and sexual harassment
Kimle, Patricia Anne, Ph.D.
Iowa State University, 1994
U M I
300 N. ZeebRd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
Business women's appearance management,
career development, and sexual harassment
by
Patricia Anne Kimle
A Dissertation Submitted to the
Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department: Textiles and Clothing
Major; Textiles and Clothing
Approved:
Signature was redacted for privacy.
Work
Signature was redacted for privacy.
For the Major Department
Signature was redacted for privacy.
For the Graduate College
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa
1994
11
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
The Evolution of Women's Business Dress
Appearance and Work Role Dress
Appearance, Sexuality, and Sexual Harassment
Purpose
Definitions
Research Questions
Dialogue with Theoretical Literature
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Women and Professional Business Images
Women's Business Dress and Fashion Change
Role Change Theory ...
Symbolic Self-Completion Theory
Some Feminist Critiques of Fashion
Aesthetics as a Valuable Component of Women's Experience
Sexual Harassment of Women in the Workplace
What is sexual harassment?
Stereotypes of victim responsibility
METHOD
Instruments
Interview schedule
Personal data sheet
iii
Stimuli 30
Procedure 31
Participants 31
Researcher 33
Data Analysis 34
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION... 38
General Information about Participants and Career Development Issues........... 38
Participants' demographic characteristics 38
General career development issues 41
The Ideal Business Image for Women....... 44
Conservatism versus fashion 49
Conformity versus creativity 54
Masculinity versus femininity/sexuality 60
Attractiveness 64
Mediating factors create a range of acceptability 67
Origins of the Ideal Image 71
Implications for theory 75
The Importance of Business Images to Corporate Culture: The Case of Casual Day 80
Maternity Issues 83
Sexual Harassment Issues 86
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS..... 91
Grounded Theory Model of the Ideal Image for Business Women 93
Special Cases for Women's Business Appearances: Maternity and Casual Days 95
Sexual Harassment and Dress 96
Conclusions 97
Theoretical perspectives 98
Limitations of study 99
Implications for further research 100
REFERENCES 102
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 110
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE 111
APPENDIX B: PERSONAL DATA SHEET 117
APPENDIX C: TELEPHONE CONTACT SCRIPT 120
APPENDIX D: CODING GUIDE FOR INTERVIEW DATA ANALYSIS 122
V
ABSTRACT
Recent changes in women's business dress presented an opportunity to explore the
social meanings conveyed by dress in a specific context. Combining qualitative methods of
observation with interpretive and grounded theory analyses, this study contributes to our
understanding of dress. The applicability of various theories of product symbolism and social
behavior to women's business dress was explored.
The purpose of this study was to examine meanings of the perceived ideal image and
actual image for women in business. It explored women's experiences with and feelings about
the use of dress as part of their development as professionals. The study sought to facilitate
insight into the dynamics of appearance in personal interactions, specifically among men and
women at work. Perceptions of dress in cases of sexual harassment were explored.
Long interviews were conducted with 24 women in a variety of business positions.
The interviews focused on women's experiences with appearance management, career
development, and gender relations at work. The analysis explored the socially constructed
ideal images for working women. The data were analyzed through grounded theory and
interpretive methods.
A dynamic, multi-dimensional conceptual model of the meaning components women
communicate in order to approach what they perceive as the "ideal" image was proposed.
The six meanings identified were Conservatism, Fashion, Masculinity, Femininity/Sexuality,
Creativity, and Conformity. Each of the meaning components must be consciously balanced
by business women. Exhibiting too much of an individual meaning may endanger the image
and destroy the individual's credibility. The state of balance of meaning components is
Description:While women cannot, and most would not, deny their female gender, it is a symbolic property of the self which is seen as requiring carefiil management (Sheppard, 1989). Women face stereotypes concerning not only female characteristics, but also concerning communications of sexual intent which can
