As a woman who is fond of a good red dress, I feel compelled to say that I was taken aback by the news that for Disneyland Paris’ 30th Anniversary, Minnie Mouse will wear her first pantsuit in 93 years.
Now, certainly, Ms. Minnie can carry any outfit with style and poise, and absolutely, pants are a practical and appropriate wardrobe staple. No disputes there.
The element of this announcement which stood out to me as starkly as white polka dots on a red dress is the connotation and praise of this pantsuit as “progress” for Disney’s most iconic female character. What is “progressive” about a pantsuit??
Minnie Mouse’s wardrobe is one such example of an increasingly popular trend in the media’s coverage of inclusion that I would argue puts undue pressure on it subjects and distracts from the intention of the cause. Since Minnie’s fictional shoulders are broad enough to carry the burden of this case study, let’s consider….
What is the Goal of Spotlighting Diverse “Firsts”? What is the Impact?
When was the last time you read a headline that announced the first member of an affinity group who attained a high visibility role or prestigious honor? The first Black female CEO in an industry. The first transgender senator. The first Latinx to travel into space.
In the publisher’s heart of hearts, he or she likely wishes to share genuinely good news with as many people who would read it, leading to a catchy, click-bait headline to increase visibility in our ever too full newsfeeds. The writer may also intend to spotlight a “first” in order to enable fellow affinity members to feel represented, which is a great and needed cause. No one should consider a goal unattainable without adequate drive and effort. To do this, we need role models, preferably those that remind us of ourselves.
Anyone who has worked hard to attain these “first” positions deserves recognition for the hard work required to reach that milestone. However, these articles and headlines unintentionally can shift the focus away from the individual’s accomplishment and instead spin the narrative into a larger call to action or political statement for “why has it taken so long?” An even worse impact is making the individual question if the role was received upon merit or for optics.
As a reader, I would much prefer to hear how the individual set a goal, worked hard, came up the ranks, faced adversity, grew in confidence and wishes to be an example for others. Many such stories can inspire people from all walks of life and can be cast to speak to a diverse audience. We each struggle with something and have goals we aspire to achieve.
By placing these achievers on a lonely and high-pressure pedestal, not only does their personal accomplishment become partially taken from them and given to the larger cause, but it also touts the rarity as a mild form of spectacle.
If the work I have done within diversity and inclusion has taught me anything….and it has taught me more than I ever imagined…it is that word choices must be thoughtful and all efforts must be balanced to support the individual with a view to the larger goal of inclusion. Using the former to achieve the latter can hurt those you blind with the spotlight and even a full auditorium is not worth that inflicted harm.
Celebrate the individual as a well-rounded, unrepeatable human being. We are each diverse in multiple ways. Pigeon holing any person to be the face of a single thing strips away the individual’s multi-faceted diversity and risks reducing one’s humanity into a poster child commodity. Instead, bring people together with a unifying goal. Inclusion requires a group to lean into one another, find common ground and can do so without a figure head.
Equity & Inclusion Should Not Minimize Diversity
Another curious element about Minnie’s “progressive” pantsuit is how it equates a historically “masculine” garment with a step toward equity and inclusion by stripping her of the gender diversity traditionally associated with a dress.
A few call outs:
My perception is informed by my lived experience in the US of our diversity, inclusion, equity, belonging, connection, justice….the acronym is evolving quite a bit….and could be quite different than the lived experience of those in France, for whom this anniversary celebration was designed.
We are each diverse, as seen in the iceberg model below. Often, we only think of the 10% that is visible to the naked eye. For many, gender is where the diversity conversation begins. Certain organizations find and many laws dictate that this is the starting place for measuring diversity and equality. Other forms of diversity are perceived to be substantially harder, if not impossible, to measure.
To contextualize our case study, Minnie’s blue pantsuit maintains her signature polka dots and hair bow, so feminine touches are still readily present.
I used to subscribe to the saying, “women can do anything men can do, and we can do it in high heels” or in Minnie’s case, a dress, which having worn jumpers and kilts to school growing up, I can attest is accurate in most cases (barring gym class and navigating a windy afternoon walk without careful attention.) However, I later learned that this famous saying and rallying cry for equality undercuts diversity in a fundamental way.
Men and women are different and complementary. These differences have maintained our species for millennia and together have enabled advances in every field. Multiple waves of feminism have shaped the world. As seen in the US, feminism has evolved substantially:
19th and early 20th centuries: Sought equal rights and opportunities for women to own property, vote and pursue education
1960s-1980s: Promoted a unisex theory and sexual liberation, which saw a rise in birth control, abortion and changes in how women viewed motherhood
1980s-1990s: Focused on gender ideology, separating biological sex from gender (Laethem et al., 2012).
Others view feminism through the lens of the feminine genius, which is complemented equal and opposite by the masculine genius. These terms refer to the understanding that men and women each possess unique qualities that the world needs and when employed to support one another, create a rich and dynamic society (Laethem et al., 2012).
The second wave of feminism in contrast with the latter “genius” view, which is also referred to as the New Feminism, is what has me perplexed about the world’s beloved mouse.
Why is sacrificing femininity, a trait the world classifies as “diverse” despite its prevalence in 50% of the population, necessary for progress? Is a single gender ideal? Will “success” be reached when we achieve a unisex society? (And who said unisex must be modeled after masculinity, where pantsuits are prized?)
If the above were true, why has the world’s understanding of gender expanded to an ever-growing number in recent decades? The third wave of feminism contradicts pantsuits as progress. The third wave would argue that Minnie should wear whatever she (and we shouldn’t assume the mouse’s pronouns) wants. Maybe she wants to wear her red dress.
Maybe Minnie has watched the world evolve and grow over the last 100 years and discovered that simply by being her unique, inherently diverse self, she can be a champion for inclusion and belonging without changing who she is. Inclusion brings diverse individuals together, and belonging is the feeling attained when diversity is welcomed and embraced.
To the Point
If we sacrifice diversity in order to broadcast achievements in equity or inclusion, have we truly accomplished anything?
Reference
Laethem, E., Polakovic, T., & Winstead, M. (2012). Letter to women. Endow.
Image sources
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