So here’s the thing: as a woman in fisheries, it can be super hard to navigate clothing, and we’ve had MANY conversations about it in our Facebook group. One of the very first and most popular discussions we’ve had was centered on this question: what does it look like to dress professionally as a woman in our field? What can/should we wear to conferences, interviews, and meetings?  

While the norms for what constitutes professional attire for men are pretty well established, for women things are much more wide open, and it can be hard to figure out what is appropriate for different settings. In addition, women face more judgment with regard to their dress, which adds an extra layer of complication to picking our clothing. We’ve heard stories of women being viewed as “not knowing what they are talking about” because they wore heels, of being criticized for wearing a sleeveless professional blouse, of being judged for being too feminine, who’ve been told to “wear some makeup, but not so much makeup that it is clear that you are wearing makeup, but enough that you still look like you put in the effort to put on some makeup”, who’ve been told they shouldn’t wear skirts (because it’s too feminine) or conversely who’ve been told they have to wear a skirt (because they have to be feminine). Given all this, it’s no wonder that women spend way more time thinking about what to wear.

Advice from our Women of Fisheries on how to navigate these things has been as varied as the problems faced. Though dressing professionally and gaining acceptance may be best accomplished by matching one’s audience or peers, it was also discussed that women should be free to dress as they wish. We noted that we’ve made great strides in that women are not restricted to wearing traditionally “feminine” clothing; we can wear pants, we don’t have to wear makeup, and so on. However, we’ve also questioned why it is that we have to worry now about dressing too much like women, why “girly” dress is frowned upon or considered to represent a lack of power or expertise. Men don’t worry about dressing too manly in our field! In general, the take home desire from our discussions was that professional dress should not relate to gendered expectations, but rather be about being appropriate for the situation and relative standards.