{"id":6889,"date":"2016-05-17T00:35:43","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T19:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6889"},"modified":"2016-05-17T00:35:43","modified_gmt":"2016-05-16T19:05:43","slug":"zoom-anxiety-work-from-home-video-calls-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6889","title":{"rendered":"Zoom Anxiety is Real: Why Work Video Calls Are Harder for Women than Men"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

L<\/span>ike a lot of people in our brave new world, I\u2019ve been out of my office for most of 2020. Even though I miss the energy of a real office and get bored with being interminably stuck in my house, there are undeniable perks to the remote working life. There\u2019s no hideous Mumbai commute to contend with, no one to stop you from taking an extra long lunch, naptime is frequent, and snacktime is perpetual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s enough to make me wonder if I could ever go back to the antiquated days of slogging it to the office in person – especially when I consider the prospect of wearing proper pants, or God forbid, a bra. The work-from-home<\/a> wardrobe is all about cosy sweats and unflattering nighties, featuring plenty of elasticated waistbands and soft, pajama-appropriate fabrics (all the better to take those naps!) Perhaps that\u2019s why the dreaded Zoom call is so universally offensive, because it comes as such a rude interruption to this relaxed way of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Zoom meeting has become an ubiquitous \u2014 and sometimes even necessary\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 part of the work-from-home culture. Particularly for women, these calls are often fraught with anxiety<\/a> over the way we\u2019re meant to look in order to be \u201cprofessional\u201d and \u201cpresentable\u201d even from our own homes. And that\u2019s when you have to go back to a pre-lockdown ritual: thinking about your appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always enjoyed the process of getting ready for work, putting my best face forward to greet the day ahead. It helps me get in the right frame of mind and makes me feel more like myself \u2014 or at least the version I want to present to the world. Yet, during work-from-home, it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve never had to spare a thought for how I\u2019m coming across in the workplace<\/a>. Suddenly, the Zoom calls where I will see and be seen seem exhausting, as if I never realised how much time and energy I was spending on getting ready before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor am I alone in this ambivalence towards dressing up for Zoom. Not only are we now stuck in a state of inertia, too used to being gharelu couch potatoes to bother with getting dolled up, but the rules for work-from-home fashion are totally different. Who can forget the infamous occasions where Zoom-call unfortunates who are all business from the waist up have literally been caught with their pants down?

Zoom even has a touchup tool to ensure that we look just perfect enough at all times.<\/blockquote>
While men are allowed enough slack to get away with a week-old stubble or a thatchy-looking haircut, for women, it\u2019s become about walking the line between casual and sloppy, effortless and lazy, \u201cnatural\u201d and sickly with dark circles. Zoom even has a touchup tool to ensure that we look just perfect enough at all times. Then there is the gentle awkwardness of being the only one in the meeting who is groomed and made up, while everyone else has apparently just popped in from a jog or rolled out of bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an essay<\/a> titled \u201cThe inescapable pressure of being a woman on Zoom\u201d on Vox by health writer Leslie Goldman, the author notes that even if women wanted to put in the effort to get camera-ready for Zoom calls, the upheaval in our personal lives during 2020 means that we might not have the bandwidth for it. She writes, \u201cEven if our inner feminist wanted to look dewy-skinned and salon-blown-out on camera, unfair beauty standards be damned, that might not be emotionally possible right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides our own looks, we stress about our backgrounds, wincing at every stray coffee cup or pressure cooker whistle. For women, who for so long have had to pretend that their home lives take place in a different dimension from work, Zoom calls are a harbinger of fresh anxieties. But with the year we\u2019ve all had in 2020, we can collectively agree that we\u2019ve got enough to worry about without adding Zoom fashion etiquette to our plates. Bring on the bird\u2019s-nest hair and comfy t-shirts! And when all else fails, there\u2019s always the magic of the Zoom touchup filter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Zoom meeting has become an ubiquitous \u2014 and sometimes even necessary \u2014 part of the work-from-home culture. Particularly for women, these calls are often fraught with anxiety over the way we\u2019re meant to look in order to be \u201cprofessional\u201d and \u201cpresentable\u201d even from our own homes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":208,"featured_media":6890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gender"],"yoast_head":"\nZoom Anxiety is Real: Why Work Video Calls Are Harder for Women than Men<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Zoom meeting has become an ubiquitous \u2014 and sometimes even necessary \u2014 part of the work-from-home culture. 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