Bellybuttons in the workplace?

In my Editor's Note last week titled "No Nostradamus," I presented my third annual (tongue-in-cheek) list of things that will not happen in the coming year. On the list was a prediction that was based on an episode I addressed in two previous columns, "Using Women" and "Getting Old, Indeed." It read as follows:

Even though it's being held in Las Vegas, the Gartner Symposium/ITXpo 2008 coming up in April will not feature scantily-clad women. You may recall that one of the exhibitors at Gartner's October event went the inappropriately-attired booth-babe route to draw attention, which it certainly did. It also drew the ire of a lot of our readers, and of SIM Women, an affiliate of the Society for Information Management.

If a stunt like that is pulled again, what happens in Las Vegas certainly won't stay in Las Vegas, and Gartner knows it. You'll see female booth attendants in Hillary Clinton pantsuits before you'll see them in bimbowear.

That item annoyed a male reader who clearly has a problem with the way his female colleagues dress. Here's what he had to say:

You're correct in that you are NO Nostradamus.  The real Nostradamus would have recognized the scantily-clad women at the Gartner October Exhibition in Las Vegas for the non-issue it is and stopped flogging the DEAD HORSE.  I'll take you seriously when you write an equally scathing piece on what passes for appropriate attire by females in the workplace.

The same reader had written in response to the "Using Women" column, when he expressed much the same view:

Based upon your "rant" on "Using Women" (05-Nov-2007), I have concluded that either you work from home and only get out to attend an occasional conference, or the Gartner Symposium/ITXpo 2007 must have been the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back" for you.

What else would explain the fact that women go to the office every single day in just about every profession, dressed like trollops, wearing clothes that didn't fit when they were bought -- just look at the number of bare midriffs -- and this is the first time you could address this lack of good taste. The social decorum has long ago been broken down by women demanding to be treated with respect, all the while wearing their party/street-walking outfits in the office.

Get over it -- stop whining. The battle for appropriate dress has been lost a very long time ago.

I don't work from home, but if I did, and I didn't have the opportunity to attend as many IT events and visit as many IT workplaces as I do, I'd really have to wonder what the world was coming to. As it is, I can't say that I've ever seen a bellybutton in the workplace. And I doubt that this guy has seen all that many, either. More likely, he's engaging in the sort of mindlessness that lies at the very heart of the problem the columns addressed in the first place. It's exasperating for me, and I can only imagine how exasperating it must be for women who have to put up with it all the time.

The exasperation and weariness were quite evident in an e-mail I received last week from a woman who said she'd just gotten around to reading my original columns on the subject:

As a 33-year old woman in IT, I've seen a lot of behavior I shouldn't have. I've also been to numerous technical seminars where I would entertain myself by counting the women in the room... then the women in the room who were under 35... and finally the minority women in the room under 35. The numbers were usually something like 5%, 3%, 1%... or less.

I applaud your columns on this subject. 

After 10 years, I'm tired of working in a young-boys network. I'm tired of having the giveaways be X-Box games or XL men's shirts. I'm tired of having a profanity-filled workspace. I'm tired of having to figure out how a dress code written to keep boys in line applies to me. I'm tired of every ad in every magazine being of men, men, and men. I'm tired of the term "booth babe" even existing. I'm tired of being presented with tables of donuts and danish.

When my mom's generation entered the workplace, they were told that not liking being pinched, resenting having centerfolds hung in the backroom, or not wanting to hang at the bar meant that they had no sense of humor. Scantily-clad women at a professional conference are not funny. They are not entertaining.  They are demeaning and insulting, not just to women, but to people who believe in modesty. (Would such a booth have appeared in Kuwait?)

There are enough real issues we have to fight against -- from the disparity in pay to the disparity in perception (loud women are not seen the same as loud men, women are perceived as using more sick leave, even when single, etc.) -- without having to watch our coworkers ogle jiggly breasts.

How would these men like it if Adobe decided all those female designers would come to the booth if Fabio gave a hug for each business card dropped in the fishbowl?

Tired, tired, tired...

I'd be tired, too. And sick of it -- I'd be using a lot more sick leave than any woman ever has if I had to put up with it. I see a whole lot more strength and resilience than I see inappropriate workplace attire.