Iowa 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 Follow this and additional works at:https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of theBusiness Commons,Home Economics Commons,Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons,Social Psychology Commons,Women's History Commons,Women's Studies Commons, and theWork, Economy and Organizations Commons Recommended Citation 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 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. 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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