I work at a Clinique counter. It is my job to know about makeup. I love working with different products that we have, and I wear makeup to my job every time I have a shift.

I would like to start off with the pure fact that I believe everyone is so individually beautiful inside and out, and I am not saying in any way that you need to wear makeup to be beautiful or successful.

When a few of my co-workers and I were leading a seminar for women in the communication field, something that is close to my heart because this will be affecting me as well, we were researching some facts about how women in the workplace. How if you wear too much someone will comment, but if you do not wear any someone will also comment. How much is too much, how much is not enough, and how does it depend on where you are working, and your age?

I worked at a golf course this summer, and although I would not get dolled up for work every day, I did make sure I had a clean-looking appearance, and when I knew I was closing a tournament, I would try a little harder, and make sure I did look a little better than my usual day. When I work at Clinique, I wear makeup because I feel like I should look the part, and if people see me I want to look like I know what I am doing. These both just personal preferences that I choose for when I go to work.

Women on average spend a whopping $300,000 on cosmetics in their lifetime, meaning those women who are making minimum wage spend around an hour just to cover the expenses of looking good for work that day. Different jobs have different standards, but a woman who was working at a clothing store was asked by her manager that she “hoped she could start wearing makeup,” even though she had never received a customer complaint and dressed the part.

Another example was a woman who worked at a restaurant who faced rules that stated their dress code was “date-ready makeup.” Management would correct one who was not adhering to the subjective standard.

Through these examples, it brought up the fact that men did not have to cover up their dark circles and wear a “date-ready” face of makeup. There is a complete double standard for women and men. Sometimes men show up in jeans and a shirt, looking unprofessional, but somehow this is okay because they are men.

Women are put in these hard positions and have to put beauty above all else because it is something is so commonly seen in the workplace, but it is something unavoidable.

What can we do as women to stop these double standards? Is this something that we just have to live with? Let's start the conversation and do something about these societal pressures that women are facing today in the workplace.