You see that picture, the pink one? That dear reader, is how I see the world, for I am a girl. Being a girl, I of course grew up playing with Barbie, changing the nappies of plastic babies, and serving plastic food to my male relatives from a toy kitchen island of girliness.
That was when I wasn’t working strenuously on developing my essential life and career skills – applying make-up, learning to walk in heels and – let us not forget – shopping.
This is all lies of course. I tried to drown my Barbie doll, cut all the hair off my make-up plastic head and demanded to paint my room black. Yes, I’m sure there are girly girls out there, and that’s fine, the world needs girly girls. What the world doesn’t need is this message being sent to the younger generation: “to be a successful girl in the workplace, you need to conform to this stereotype”.
Wrong.
But maybe I’m wrong*, apparently, there are 12 things PR women can’t live without, a list which includes make-up, and high heels.
PR has had a reputation for being the domain of “fluffy bunnies”, and I thought this was changing. I don’t know any senior woman in PR that could, in any way, be described as fluffy.
Women looking to enter the industry need to look towards these female leaders for inspiration and mentorship. They need to know how to communicate, rather than obsess about shoes and make-up. If women need anything in PR it’s the mentorship of those who have come before them.
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* no, I am not.
