Is Sex Appeal Aid To Success In Business?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18960, 6 January 1930, Page 8

Is Sex Appeal Aid To Success In Business?

TO-DAY’S SIGNED ARTICLE.

(Written for the “ Star ” by

H. M. JUSTIN.)

Does sex appeal play a prominent part in the business world, or doesn’t it? Is Louis E. Van Norman, chief business specialist of the United States Department of Commerce, wrong when he says (as he did at the recent convention of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs): “We discourage the utilisation of sex appeal in the business world.” It seems to be the consensus among women who have made names for themselves in industry that Mr Van Norman is both right and wrong. In some lines of business it is admitted that sex appeal in either sex does not count, but in others—ah, that is a different story. It seems that in the offices of big industries, especially in New York, personal charm possessed by girls is a great asset in getting a job. Keeping the job is another matter. But several other fields have been opened up recently to women where sex appeal is of practically no value in the battle for success. Those who insist that sex appeal enters into the matter in certain fields of endeavour in big metropolises point to the fact that the vocational advisers connected with business colleges and other institutions impress on girl stenographers, typists, clerks and bookkeepers the necessity of dressing well and looking as attractive as possible if they want to get and keep jobs. Personal charm is stressed as a qualification. But that is not the only indication of the way the wind is blowing. Anybody who goes into a business office can see that the majority of the girls employed in it are young and goodlooking, and that most of them have what has come to be known as “It”— the word used by Elinor Glyn to describe the sex appeal of Clara Bow of movie fame. Typiste Brides.

That, many marriages result from the employment of girls in business offices was strongly emphasised during June, the month of brides. According to officials of the Marriage License Bureau, the majority of the brides gave their occupations as typists and clerks. There was a falling-off among those engaged in other lines of work. And many of the bridegrooms were employed in the same office as the brides as clerks and minor executives. Some of the big insurance and trust companies were strongly represented. Not a few of the brides confided to the license clerks that they intended to keep on working after marriage as the salaries of their husbands were not sufficient to support a home. The head of the employment bureau of a big typewriter manufacturing concern who sends thousands of girl typists to business firms every year is authority for the statement that since the exploitation of the sex appeal Shibboleth in the movies reached its height more pretty and shapely girls are becoming typists and clerks than ever before.

“And most of them,” she went on, “try to get jobs in the Wall Street district. They frankly tell me that by working there they hope to find husbands who will be better able to support them. They have read and heard of young men starting out as clerks or runners or board boys who have risen to be members of the firm.

“Nearly every week in the papers you see an article telling how a young man who started out as a messenger has had a seat on the Stock Exchange purchased for him by his broker employers. This excites the imagination of the girls. Each hopes she may be the lucky one who bags such a hus band.

Pretty Girls. “I am willing to bet you will see more pretty girls with sex appeal and charm getting off the trains in the Wall Street district than in any other section of the city. Some of them would put a Ziegfeld beauty to shame. But they have no desire to go on the stage.

“The life of a show girl does not appeal to them. They prefer to work at a genteel occupation until they meet the right man. If he is the boss and offers marriage, so much the better; but they won’t turn up their noses at a small executive or clerk. And generally they do not have to wait long. “ There is a general belief, whether well founded or not I am not prepared to say, that pretty girls with plenty of sex appeal are dumbbells, but New York business men do not seem to think so, apparently. If I sent two girls to the same employer, the prettiest one will generally land the jot*. For a time her employer will ravt about her brains when he probably means her blue or brown eyes, cr her blond or brunette bob, and all the male clerks will find occasion to address her frequently. “ In time her dumbness may be found out, but by then she probably has landed a man.

“ Very few of the pretty girls in a A office stick long. Those you see occupying responsible positions are for the most part unattractive from e sex standpoint and they are generally past the chicken age.

Sex Appeal Counts. “Another indication that sex appeal counts in the business and financi -.l world is that the age deadline for women has dropped from about thirty* five to twenty-five. A girl over twentyfive finds it almost impossible to grt a job, especially if she has no sex appeal.

“ But, of course, I admit that thece are quite a few women employed in the financial district in responsible positions who are over thirty-five But they have risen through sheer ability —unaided by SA “ Instead of sex appeal in business being discouraged it is being nurtured in many fields of endeavour. Why, only the other day. the Grace steamship line supplanted men waiters and stewards on its ships by girls. Exclusive clubs and hotels have also fallen into line. They say patrons, even women, prefer girl waitresses. And the best part of it is that the girls are getting the same pay as, or even higher than the men they have supplanted. “ There is one field for women where sex appeal does not figure to ar.y extent. That is the department store industry. This is because most of the customers are women and they do not care whether or not the saleswoman is pretty or has S.A.” Other Fields. There are other fields now opening up to girls and women where physical attractiveness is not an asset. Take, for instance, aviation. Half a dozen or more women have made names for themselves in this industry, since Lindbergh’s flight to Paris. And only one of the aviatrixes could be said to have “It** in any great degree. She is Ruth Elder. Another big field for girls where sex appeal does not count is school teacu ing. (Anglo-American N.S. Copyright.)