The tale of the dressing-up

Being a woman and being actively involved in the business scene has certainly been a tale of trying to please everyone (my superiors, my family, my significant other, my friends and lastly myself). As an intern, straight out of University, with no experience, my main concern was to be as good as possible in my work tasks. My supervisor (a woman), had other priorities set for me though. She would always comment on my outfits, my hair and make-up, my lack of expensive handbags and of course on the fact that I was a young woman trying to make it. Two months into my internship, she blatantly ordered me to go shopping for some ”decent clothes” (mind you, I was already dressing as a decent executive, with suits and midi skirts etc) and stop acting like a woman, aka stop being polite and smiling. I lasted 10 years in that position and that supervisor was there for almost 5 of them. Not once did she support me as a woman or as a colleague. Women should stay home, she said before leaving for retirement…