Millennial women are more expressive outside of work

A brand new study examines the sweetness standards faced by millennial women and what number of of them imagine they “cannot afford to ignore mainstream beauty standards” within the workplace and beyond.

Qualitative test“Millennial Agency and Liberation Within Black American Beauty Standards” appears in the brand new volume Embodiment and Representations of Beauty. They found that Black millennial women felt a way of freedom and suppleness when it got here to beauty standards of their personal lives. However, within the workplace they felt pressure to evolve to more restrictive beauty standards.

Jaleesa Reed, study creator and assistant professor of human-centered design within the College of Human Ecology, interviewed 20 Black millennial women to study their experiences with changing beauty standards as they relate to their identity. Participants, born between 1981 and 1996, represented the complete range of millennials.

The study found that participants believed that meeting American beauty standards meant being “white,” “slim,” “blonde,” and “blue-eyed.” In their personal lives, participants adopted an “intracultural” beauty standard that celebrated the varied hair textures, body shapes, and skin tones present in the African diaspora. However, in skilled settings, participants felt compelled to make style decisions that balanced their personal identity with profession development and adapting to workplace expectations.

“Decisions about how to style their hair, what jewelry to wear, or how much makeup to apply depend on their livelihoods and their ability to support themselves and their families,” Reed said.

“On the one hand, you would possibly feel like, ‘Oh, it’s just the way in which you style your hair.’ On the opposite hand, in addition they have to think about the work environment, which made them query their style decisions.”

The results reflect the Eurocentric beauty standards passed on to the Millennial generation and the way they are upheld within the workplace.

“Participants were aware, through personal experiences and anecdotes, of the consequences for Black women who did not assign appearance expectations at work,” Reed said. “Eurocentric beauty standards reinforced by popular media taught them from an early age that women with lighter skin and long, straight hair were considered more beautiful.”

According to the 2019 CROWN study TestIn the US, black women are 1.5 times more likely than other women to be sent home from work because of their hairstyle, with social and economic consequences. Black women with straighter hair are exposed to fewer microaggressions within the workplace in comparison with women with curly or textured hair.

As a result, study participants imagine that adhering to cross-cultural beauty standards in predominantly white environments could threaten their family’s job security and financial stability, Reed says.

“For Black women,” Reed wrote, “hairstyle choices in professional spaces are culturally significant and can be misinterpreted. Protective hairstyles such as braids, twists or curls… are often considered unprofessional, as evidenced by cases of hair discrimination….”

Number states In 2024, the number of implementing hair discrimination laws will proceed to extend. This follows a coalition formed to induce lawmakers to pass laws prohibiting employers from discriminating against hairstyles, particularly those related to black or biracial people.

The first of many, generally known as the CROWN (Create a Respectful and Inclusive Workplace for Natural Hair) laws, was passed in 2019 by California Governor Gavin Newsom. Currently, 28 states have laws supporting the CROWN Act.

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