BUSINESS GIRLS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 191, 15 May 1928, Page 10

BUSINESS GIRLS

ARE GOOD LOOKS AN ADVANTAGE?

CONTROVERSY IN ENGLAND

(United Service.)

(Rec. May 14, 8.15 p.m.) London, May 14.

Whether a girl can be over-atttrac-tive for her job is the latest controversy. Miss Haslett, organiser for the Women’s Engineering Association, speaking at the New Careers Women's Conference, protested against an engineering firm refusing a good-looking girl a position, despite the fact that she was admirably qualified for an ap-pointment-in a drawing office, because it feared she would upset the men. Another director ‘expressed the opinion that a girl’s technical qualifications should include the ability to remain unshocked when a foreman said “damn.” Miss Haslett argued that engineer girls did not want to be regarded as curiosities because they wore trousers and worked at night time. They wanted to work with, not against, men. Sir Woodman Burbidge, chairman and managing director of Harrods Ltd., declares that there is no truth in the statement that good looks are a drawback to a business woman. He prefers good-looking women, having “something above the ears.” A charming girl has a great advantage m salesmanship. Mr. Gordon Selfridge, jun., says a man who neglects his work because an attractive girl is in the same office is not much of a business man. A Women Clerks’ Association official expresses the opinion that if the choice lies between girls otherwise equally equipped, an attractive personality always gets the post. "M e sometimes are asked not to send goodlooking girls, but this is probably due to a wife’s influence.” One Government Department thinks over-attractiveness is not advisable.