Twitter has frequently served as a powerful conductor of public opinion. In some ways, trending hashtags can be used to distill current events into the topics that are most relevant and concerning. Such was the case Thursday when the hashtag #DressLikeAWoman quickly ascended to the top of Twitter’s trending topics chart.
The hashtag was in response to a recent report released by the new media company, Axios. In the report that was published on Thursday, a member of Donald Trump’s campaign team revealed the President’s desire that female employees, “dress like women.” The report goes on to say that women working for Trump’s campaign field offices often felt pressure to impress him by wearing dresses.
Immediate backlash met the release of this report as women and their allies shared photos of themselves dressed in their working attire followed by the #DressLikeAWoman hashtag on social media. One woman posed in military uniform with her comrades, another posed while performing an autopsy in her scrubs, and still another posed while welding metal in jeans and a T-shirt, the point being– there is no one-way a woman should dress. These and a great number of other sarcastic tweets ridiculed the idea that there is a certain way anyone should dress, let alone half of the population.
Trump’s supposed taste for femininely dressed female employees speaks to gender expectations that continue to plague society, particularly in the work environment. Though it is true certain formal occasions call for professional attire, distinguishing a standard of dress based upon gender is where things get hairy. As is often the case in terms of dress code, the regulations women face outnumber the ones established for men tenfold, both in number and in rigidity—perhaps it is because they are typically not the ones making those decisions; especially in Trump’s administration where men outnumber women significantly.
Though vastly troubling, this information from Trump’s campaign member is not shocking in light of the President’s past remarks about women. The report from Axios continues by describing Trump as a “very visual guy.” In a society that too often deems a women’s worth on face value, a President that frequently indulges in making remarks that continue this harming sentiment is a President that does not represent his people. The #DressLikeAWomen hashtag is simply another in a long list of reminders that the President may not be so presidential.