We’ve come a long way just to make sure those baby arms are covered up.
As someone who spent two decades in television news, I was disappointed –but not surprised – to see our first female prime minister Kim Campbell’s tweet on female television anchors who choose to wear sleeveless dresses. She concluded that “bare arms undermine credibility and gravitas.”
WATCH BELOW: Swift reaction against Kim Campbell’s controversial dress comments
Female anchors have always been criticized for how they look, what they wear, or the style of their hair while their male counterparts have largely been ignored.
That’s not the surprising part. The surprising part is that most of the criticism comes from other women.
I have heard more than one woman agree with Campbell’s assertion that women lose their credibility when they expose their arms. Some have gone so far as to say men don’t take women seriously if they are showing skin.
It’s another form of victim blaming and frankly, is selling men short, to suggest that if men see bare arms they will be so distracted they won’t listen to what a woman is saying.
Kim Campbell’s comments have set the women’s movement back a few decades. We should be judged by our words and not our wardrobe.
Women should support and not judge another woman’s right to wear what she wants.