Poll: Do Women Need To Dye Their Hair For Their Careers?

According to Fiona Smith of The Financial Review, it is very rare to see a woman in the work world sporting grey hair unlike men, who wear their silver manes like a badge of honor. She pointed out that Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, who wears her gorgeous grey hair proudly, is a rarity amongst professional women.

A recent UK survey found that more than 50% of executive women dye their hair, compared with just 3% of men. The survey comments included: “Grey hair makes a businessman look distinguished but just makes a woman look old.” In the U.S., of the 93 women in Congress, only five have grey hair and of the 15 female executives of Fortune 500 companies, no one has grey hair or rather has allowed it to be grey. Smith wrote:

“Some may shrug and ask what is the issue. Changing the color of your hair is a matter of personal choice. If some women dye, so be it.

But there is also the question of whether women need mature role models who are visibly comfortable with their age at a time when there is a popular expectation that they must remain youthful in order to be seen as relevant, employable and date-able.”

But as cliche as this sounds, shouldn’t it be more about the work the person is doing and not how they look? But as we all know, things are never that black and white. They are more grey. If women are the industry leaders for having plastic surgery procedures, than dying their hair certainly isn’t going out of style. But can we really blame women for doing this with these sort of societal pressures?