Word: shirt
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...This fall, WIB members have been dashing around in neon pink t-shirts to promote their Intercollegiate Business Conference, which took place Oct.13th. But forget the shirt’s hue (color-gender association is so over). It’s the words on the t-shirt that are most memorable: “CEO’s look better in heels.” The phrase is accompanied by a graphic of slender legs (presumably female) in a pair of pumps...
...shirt slogan is offensive, because it undermines the important ideal of gender equality in the business world, as do many facets of WIB itself—the very idea that a support group for aspiring businesswomen is necessary suggests that a person’s gender might play a part in how well she performs on the job. Likewise, in the case of this t-shirt, by suggesting that women make better CEOs, WIB is opening up the door for judgment on the basis of gender. This is exactly the sort of mistake forward-thinking social activists have been working...
...There are some more nuances that WIB seems to have missed in its t-shirt design. The motto seems to implicitly suggest that women “make better” CEOs than men do, which ties into the larger problem of linking professional fitness to gender. Perhaps WIB members did not intend this nuance, but then, they should have thought a bit more deeply about their slogan when they sent this t-shirt design to print...
...last and worst problem with the WIB t-shirt motto is that it implicitly associates female professionals with high heels, and this constitutes quite a sexualized image. This association devalues the other aspects of female professionalism, such as brainpower, organizational abilities, and corporate prowess. Successful women don’t all wear kitten heels, after all—Harvard’s own Drew Faust appears to be quite a fan of flats...
...Despite the fact that I contacted several WIB members for comment on the t-shirt slogan, none were willing to speak to me on the record. We can only speculate, then, as to what would motivate this group to pick such an atrocious motto...