Power Outfit

Today, I wore a power outfit. Yes, you heard me right, a power outfit-- a medium length skirt with formal & patterned halter top under a black form fitting vest in high hills. Define power outfit? It's every woman's dream to be able to dress like a woman at work and not have to feel sexually harassed or even ridiculed for it behind her back. The beauty of Hong Kong is that it is non-existent.

It's an equal world in the working place here in HK. Women undoubtingly gain the same types of prominent roles as men unquestioned. HK has moved beyond even having such connotations as "It's a man's world," not to say that it is deemed true all over the West for all fields, but the fact of the matter is, in the US, it still holds true as an issue necessary to raise (especially in architecture & design).

I once spent hours during a week long conference listening to debates on women in the workforce by very prominent women in design. At the end of the day, these women described different approaches to coping with negative stereotypes. Such as just dressing and acting like men; deciding that it doesn't matter and that women who are concerned are weak, (not supporting other women) or by playing the "bitchy" role which is essentially what it takes for women in the design field to rise up the ladder.

Therefore, after having spent a few months here, having been way intiminated by the dressing styles of my colleagues-- most dress up in high hills and skirts or a full on body dress as they please-- I realized that I no longer have to live by those negative connotations as they don't apply here. This of course, goes beyond my little story on the power outfit, it's about the role, attitude and involvement etc. between men and women. Here you can be a woman and be proud of that. Women in dresses are just as respected as men in suits. As a matter a fact, I feel that women here can be much bolder than men are here, holding very prominent roles. perhaps the roles here are reversed hehehe...