Why is motherhood still the first thing journalists think of?

And no doubt if she had turned up looking untidy, or had her hair in a pony tail she would have been criticised as being sloppy and uncaring.

Overall, and this is not relevant to this thread really, I get irritated by lazy sloppy journalism. In fact I shall start another, more appropriate thread.

I agree HPQ. She looked smart in her dark blue dress and there is nothing wrong with a woman's bare arms. Not as though she was in a mini skirt and showing her cleavage.
Why is it always women who are criticised about their clothes.?

Oh dear,women judging other women on the clothes they wear.Really? its 2023 not the 40's .She looked perfectly respectable to me ." Surely the days when rape victims were said to have asked for it because their skirt was short are thankfully gone? This nonsense of a women having bare arms being inappropriate takes old fashioned attitudes to a new low level .She can do her job perfectly well WITHOUT her arms covered.

please explain if thats not the case and why bare arms affect how her brain works

Just as well some here didn’t have to comply with a strict dress code, which was intended to give a professional image and instil confidence in clients.

I would feel full confidence in say my doctor bank manager etc if she wore a plain navy blue dress.

There’s a plain navy blue dress and there’s a skin tight sleeveless navy blue dress in a very grave situation. As a lawyer I wore navy blue but not sleeveless without a jacket except within the office, not in meetings, nor skin tight. She most certainly would not be allowed to give evidence in court in that dress without a jacket. I would ask people to consider if they would be happy to have a lady undertaker turn up at a funeral dressed like that. It’s not dissimilar in terms of gravity and the need to show respect in the face of grief.

We bought a place about ten years ago and the young solicitor wore such a tight dress that was split at the back to her posterior. She also had to navigate the narrow winding stairs of a very old Georgian building in incredibly high heeled black patent leather shoes to take us to the boardroom. Above all else when I was her age I would have been so uncomfortable sausaged into that dress. She did execute our documents correctly but I did feel I was on the Parisian catwalk.

Germanshepherdsmum

Just as well some here didn’t have to comply with a strict dress code, which was intended to give a professional image and instil confidence in clients.

Some of us did have a dress code which gave a professional image and managed to do so without criticising other women's choices of work wear.

Your dress code was?

Not really of your concern, but as was standard in the industry in which I worked.

Which you seem reluctant to describe. Which is strange given the debate here.

Accountancy. City practice. Happy now?

Were you a qualified accountant or support staff? I’m not being snobby when I say that. I was a partner in a City law firm and all partners, assistant solicitors and people who might come into contact with clients had to adhere to a strict dress code. Dark clothes, no bare arms or legs and no open toed shoes (an insult to clients or their associates of some religions). You had to be prepared to meet anyone at a moment’s notice, no matter how senior you were. Therefore I am well used to dressing with others in mind. It’s not old fashioned, it’s good manners. All the more so in the face of grief.

The first head teacher (a man) I worked for said trousers for women and sleeveless dresses or tops were not appropriate for teaching children or meeting with parents, yet short skirts were acceptable.
Evidently we haven’t moved on-except now it’s women making the judgement.

With the job she had, it’s possible she went for something that she felt confident wearing, or do you really think she was just trying to look sexy? People have different ideas of what’s appropriate to wear, whether for teenagers, young mums or even pensioners!
Would your mind be on the information you had to impart or whether people would approve of your clothes?

I’m inclined to agree with gsm on the absence of a jacket at such an important press conference. The senior officer had clearly out thought into her appearance in this key conference. Hair, makeup— why no jacket?
As a young social worker, even I knew if I went to Court, the big ear rings, spiked hair, etc wouldn’t help the Court take me seriously. We kept a tie and two jackets, male and female (dare I say that) in the office on a ‘just in case’ basis. If it wasn’t just in case, it was quiet formal ware

My mind would be on the information I had to impart. Knowing that I had to do that, I would have carefully considered how I was going to do that - including my appearance when doing so. A woman in her position should be more aware of the importance of appearances. You don’t dress as if on a night out when imparting to the press the state of your inquiries into what you believed to be (and was) a tragic death..

GSM. Practice manager. I can't believe the path this thread has taken; it would appear that those of us who are not solicitors shoukd know our place. So much for the sisterhood. I still maintain that Platell's comments were bitchy and irrelevant and she was right pulled up for them by a senior (female) officer of Lancashire force. Others are of course completely free to express an opinion, but it should be without questioning as to their professional background. Enough already

HousePlant I’m with you on disliking and disapproving of the awful Platell’s article. It’s hard though, not to acknowledge we live in a fairly conservative country, especially where women in positions of authority are concerned.
We may feel this is unfair, misogynistic and worse and so far as Platell and the paper she rides on is concerned I feel all those things.
I was a bit cross with my own reaction. Where’s your jacket I thought. She was appearing as a key senior officer in a complex missing person case, which was as high profile as it gets. She must have known the DM and others would pick on any perceived weakness. Why spoon feed them.
The focus should have been the missing woman, not the care the female officer took over her hair and make up and the lava if jacket- bare arms in Lancashire in February, I don’t think so

She must have known the DM and others would pick on any perceived weakness. Why spoon feed them.

What if her attention was not on whether or not the DM or GN would be offended because she removed her jacket, but on the news she was imparting? Or maybe, if she thought about that possibility at all, which is unlikely, she thought it none of their business.

Practice manager - not a client facing role * HPQ*.
As Iam says, the SIO’s position in the televised press conference was as high profile as it gets. Dressing as if going out on the town was disrespectful and did nothing to inspire confidence in a police force which was facing much criticism. She was imparting important information on the progress of a serious case. She did not look the part and whether we like it or not, looking the part is vital in a professional role.

It's not sexist to criticise her attire - imagine if her male colleague was wearing a skin-tight sleeveless t-shirt.

In some circumstances appearance matters.

IYO

But it's a perfectly normal dress. It absolutely is not 'going out' clothes, you would be arrested up here for wearing that on a night out, way too staid.

So, is the general consensus on GN that if a woman doesn’t dress in the way that they or the Daily Mail -the arbiter of what is right, (who knew?) consider suitable, she isn’t doing a good job?
Or is it how she delivers the information?
I initially only heard her speech and thus wasn’t distracted from the content, as so many others apparently were. So I missed out on the chance to be judgemental about her clothes till later.

I saw a solicitor to have a new Will written and returned a few days later to sign etc - on both occasions the young woman (around 40) wore a dress and jacket. Her office was a bit of a sun trap and warm and I could see a few sleeveless men and women at their desks.

Now, her donning the jacket to see me doesn't mean she's any better at will writing but it does show a certain respect and professionalism in approach.

It's all about nuance.