How Corporate Feminism Went from "Love Me" to "Buy Me"

"Should women be themselves at the office? In the past two decades, self-expression has become a tacit expectation in many white-collar workplaces, with dress codes relaxing and companies professing interest in their employees' lives and values. You got hired to do your job, the thinking goes; no use sending someone else to the staff meeting. But the past few years of layoffs, hiring slowdowns, and dwindling worker protections have left a subset of wage earners inclined to keep their cards close."

""My workplace is not prepared for me to bring my authentic self to the office," one Redditor wrote, cryptically, on r/LateStageCapitalism. In "Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work," the author Jodi-Ann Burey argues that, for women and for people of color, being true to oneself easily morphs into a professional liability, particularly in an era of backlash against D.E.I. "Authenticity costs, and I mean cash," Burey warns."

Self-expression became a tacit expectation in many white-collar workplaces over the past two decades, with relaxed dress codes and employers professing interest in employees' lives and values. Recent layoffs, hiring slowdowns, and weakened worker protections have prompted many employees to conceal personal traits and opinions. For women and people of color, bringing an authentic self to work can become a professional liability and invite backlash against diversity initiatives. Authenticity can carry direct financial consequences. Strategic communication can help navigate gendered penalties, since women who show ambition face labeling as unlikable while agreeable women may lose authority.

Read at The New Yorker