Pretty powerful: The future is feminine!

When feminism began to take root, women were fighting for equal political, social and economic rights in a world they saw as male-dominated.

Women began to assess every little thing that could be interpreted as a sign of male oppression.

Beauty, appearance, clothes and demeanour were put under a lens, and dressing reform became part of the women’s rights revolution.

Paying attention to one’s appearance was seen as collaborating with male oppression. To express their liberation and empowerment, feminists threw out their make-up, bras and high heels and wore their hair short.

Beauty rituals such as shaving underarms and hairy legs were also denounced.

Beauty pageants were not spared. They were seen as events that reduced women to sex objects for male gratification.

And in 1968, US feminists protested outside the Miss America beauty pageant, calling for its abolition.

The fight against pageants continues to date. As this year’s Miss World pageant took place in London, protestors picketed the vicinity, denouncing the trivialised women.

Susan Anyango, 19, the reigning Miss World Kenya disagrees with them. According to her, pageant winners get a platform to work towards a greater cause, which could include pushing for women’s rights.

Her plan is to use her time as Miss World Kenya to create awareness about cancer, in memory of her mother who died of the disease.

“I can use this title to get people to support this fight against cancer that I am so passionate about. I think it would be harder without it, but with the crown people know who you are and what cause you are supporting,” she says.

Newfound freedom

That view, that women can treasure beauty and still support the cause, was held by more women in the eighties, who after a decade of being told to give up paying attention to their looks, began to reclaim their femininity.

They argued that it was the philosophy of working towards equal rights rather than appearance and dressing that makes a woman feminist.

In the book Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism, Linda Scott, a feminist, writes that feminism needs to end its obsession with the politics of personal appearance and get past a dim view of beauty.

New feminists agree, saying women should be free to be themselves without adopting aggressive and competitive male attitudes.

This freedom includes acting and dressing as they please. So while radical feminists were easy to recognise in the 70s and 80s, today, one may not be able to pick out a feminist in a crowd based on appearance.

So, enter the era of the new feminine feminist, personified by women like Michelle Obama. The First Lady of America quit her attorney job to be a “stay-at-home” wife and mother.

However, this does not detract from the fact that she is still an independent woman with opinions that she expresses. In contrast, Hillary Clinton was the archetypal feminist of the 70s and 80s, eschewing femininity for a vaguely masculine exterior.

Kathambi Kinoti, a founder member and managing trustee of Young Women’s Leadership Institute, agrees that there is no way of telling by someone’s appearance who a feminist is.

“I would say I am a feminist because I oppose any system that has cultural, political and economic values that are not favourable to women’s development and participation in society. But you can’t deduce that just by looking at me,” she says.

Kathambi says that feminism is essentially about questioning the belief that women are inferior to men and should not enjoy equal rights.

Today’s ‘feminist’ will see herself as a person first before she sees herself as a woman. Eva Kiplagat, managing director of the Customer Care Consulting Company, believes that in any situation, personality will always trump gender.

This is more so important in her field of work, which has long been treated as work for ‘pretty women with soft skills.’

“Just because you are pretty does not mean you will be able to resolve customers’ problems,” she says.

However, she agrees that there are qualities unique to women that they can “leverage for success at work and in life.

Women are better people managers and communicators, better at multitasking and more efficient than men,” she says, adding: “Women have started to recognise that they can use these natural traits to get ahead.”

Gender over competence

Louisa Gikonyo, CEO of the Private Sector Youth Federation, agrees with Eva in that competence is more important than gender.

“That said there are feminine traits that come in handy,” she says. “As a woman I am persuasive, and I speak to individuals and get their point of view.

“By the time I am making my presentation on an issue, people can identify and empathise with what I am proposing.

“Women are also very nurturing and do well in harnessing and nurturing young talent, although you will still find women who are not supportive of upcoming younger women who appear poised to rise higher than previously imagined.”

Louisa also brings her female sartorial sense to the office: “I use my dressing to my advantage. I love the colour pink, and use soft colour suits during a presentation to brighten a dull day or spice up a ‘boring’ presentation.”

There is a caveat, though. “Your sense of fashion can work for or against you if people are focusing on your clothes, so I try not to be too wild. I try to balance between fashion and professionalism in my dressing. For board meetings I am likely to wear something gray or navy.”

Marketing guru Joanne Mwangi, who owns Professional Marketing Services, believes that no one is fully masculine or fully feminine. She also believes that being feminine is an asset that should be used to one’s advantage.

“Women are patient, persistent, and more sensitive, and this works well in business. But at the same time you need to be forthright, saying it as it is without being too concerned about what people will say.

“You need to be ready to face the music just like a man. Women tend to be diplomatic because of their upbringing, but if you are not aggressive your rate of success in business will tend to be slower.”

And there are good reasons why she thinks it is important to bring your femininity to your business: “In my experience, men prefer women who are women, rather than those who take up masculine traits.

“Be nice and soft when it suits you, but when push comes to shove, you will need to take off your kid gloves and deal with the situation.”