“How I Learned to be Taken Seriously — and Stylishly — As a Young Woman in Academia”
My first piece for XOJane. I have a lot of thoughts about the many themes covered–from owning personal style to classroom politics–but I figured I’d start with this and see where it goes.
And yes, because I know you’re wondering, 1994-Sassy-reading-me is squeeee-ing because she just got published on 2014-Jane-Pratt’s site.
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Congrats! It’s a great article, and I think that this is a challenge faced by many young women. They are put into a position of authority and not taken seriously.
I used to have a problem where professional peers would treat me casually. I started calling them Mr. Brown and Mrs. Green when beginning a conversation. It helped set the tone as more formal and business-like, which helped combat the coed atmosphere.
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Thank you! I’m glad you liked it. It still baffles me that American society prizes youth, except when it doesn’t. Another great piece on Elle.com is “Why I Never Tell Anyone (Especially My Coworkers) My Age.” While I don’t necessarily agree that hiding one’s age is the best course of action, I think it really speaks to how a woman’s perceived age works against her, younger OR older. Studies also show that age, as well as personal style and grooming can greatly affect people’s perceptions of different genders, races, and ethnicities in any line of work. Really disturbing all around.
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