Beyond the Sleeves
How tattooed women are viewed in the workforce
How tattooed women are viewed in the workforce
“It’s time to break the misconception,” Frey said “[Tattooed people] can be professionals and good parents. Tattoos don’t change your personality or who you are.”
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While Melissa Frey was studying to be a paralegal and she worked at a credit union. She already had colorful tattoos covering her both of her arms when a secret shopper came in. The customer complained that Frey’s tattoos were distracting and inappropriate for her workplace and the administration changed its policy.
Before that day, it was okay for Frey to show her facial piercings and tattoos on her forearms, but after the customer complained she had to wear long sleeves to work every day. Frey was the only employee working there with visible tattoos and body modifications when the secret shopper came in. Unfortunately, Frey is not the only person who has to hide under long sleeves for her shifts. As of 2017, not a single state in America has anti-discrimination laws of any form regarding individuals with tattoos. People with tattoos are protected from criminal law by the Constitution because they are a form of expression, but they aren’t federally protected in the workplace. For the most part, it isn’t the employers who are upset with employees’ tattoos, but the customers. Clients often report that they see workers with tattoos as “distracting” and “unprofessional,” employers hire people with this in mind and want to appeal to their potential customers. The employer has every right not to hire someone because they have tattoos, but they cannot fire someone for having them. Tattoos and How They’re Perceived in the Workplace Frey along with the other 45 million Americans who are tattooed have to hide their body modifications during job interviews. Once hired, employers cannot fire employees for being tattooed but they can enforce their cover up policies on them. Companies create these anti-body art policies in order to protect their image, but each workplace is different depending on their leniency on showing inked skin or not. The law can protect employees from discrimination regarding race, color, religion, age, nationality, origin and gender, but there aren’t any regarding piercings and tattoos. People often associate tattoos with being uneducated or having a criminal record since 40 percent of people who have a tattoo didn’t complete high school, 29 percent did complete high school, 25 percent have some college experience and 14 percent of undergraduates and those in graduate school are tattooed. Because of these statistics, people often assume that that tattooed people cannot be professional or hired for a position purely based on their appearance. Consumers often prefer the people who work for them to not be tattooed and this is one of the reasons that 37 percent of human resource managers say that tattoos limit promotions and career potential. Only 3 out of 10 hiring managers believed that bad breath and piercings were worse than visible tattoos when it came to candidates interviewing for a job. Most hiring managers – no matter what industry – prefer to hire someone who isn’t tattooed because they want to make sure that their tattoos aren’t offensive, distracting, hurt the brand’s image in the workplace environment. Approximately 76 percent of employees feel that their tattoos and piercings hurt their chances for job interviews, but 73 percent of people say they would hire people with visible tattoos. Despite this fact, the overall mentality surrounding that people will be unable to get jobs if they are heavily tattooed. History of Women with Tattoos It wasn’t until 2012 when women finally out inked men. About 23 percent of women are tattooed in the United States compared to 19 percent of American men. Usually women and smaller and individual tattoos rather than larger and more visible piece than men get. It’s more common and seen as socially acceptable for men to have their arms tattooed than women. Most women in tattoo history were only known as circus freaks or would say that they were kidnapped and tattooed by Native Americans. Women being tattooed was rare until the 1900s. Usually women only had access to tattoos if their husbands were artists themselves and only then would they be trained in the art of tattooing. Frey says that a majority of people who come up and talk to her about her tattoos are women. She says that she primarily gets questions about her tattoos rather than statements and they’re always from people who don’t have any of their own. People who aren’t tattooed are often curious about them and ask what the mean, how long it took, and if it hurt to get it done. “When you meet another tattooed person it’s a short conversation,” Frey said. “You usually compliment their artist’s work, but you know all of the answers to the questions when you’re tattooed.” Frey encourages people who are curious about tattoos to get them and disregard the stigma associated with body modifications and professionalism. The attitude of a tattoo friendly workplace is on its way to being achieved, especially in the Pacific Northwest. Women are no longer considered strange for being tattooed or tattooing others and this pattern towards acceptance is on the rise. Being tattooed does not automatically mean you are in a gang, have been in jail or uneducated. Professional people come from all sorts of backgrounds and none of which are based on the fact if they are tattooed or not. |