Womens Power and Self-image

Women 's Power and Self-image

Today , a perfect body and ideal image is one of the most important elements of modern culture and social identity . People copy and borrow their identities from the media and fashion subdued by cultural images imposed on them . In the essay `Hope in a Jar , the author , Kathy Peiss vividly portrays emergence of beauty industry and hair care products through key figures of women who made a great constitution to beauty culture and cosmetics . Peiss underlines the crucial role and importance of self-image and power women entrepreneurs

possessed , their relations with the outside world , unique vision of beauty culture and women needs .For `beauty entrepreneurs ' community of culture and changing economic conditions were the main driven forces in their business . Personal stories of Helena Rubinstein , Annie Turnbo and Madam C . J . Walker show that their personalities were formed under the influence of individual characteristics , social and economic environment , values and traditions of their societies . The economic power of three women can be explained by the fact that Helena Rubinstein , Annie Turnbo and Madam C . J . Walker brought together creative and innovative ideas and coupling these with management and organizational skills in to combine people , money and resources to meet an identified need and thereby create wealth Finding ways to overcome the economic barriers and social impediments women faced , these four shrewdly took the measure of their times - and the market - to build business empires (p . 331

Social identity played a crucial role in beauty culture determining certain standards of body image and hair care . For instance , Helena Rubinstein adopted a high-society image but invoked elements of the New Woman (p . 331 . For most of her potential women-customers , this image became an example of behavior patterns they had to follow . She created new social identity advertising her `beauty services ' and products , and promoting an ideal body image for every woman . Similar to Rubinstein , Madam C . J . Walker used personal image and identity for promotion purposes creating a culture and industry of black women 's hair care . Her economic power was that she applied her ideas to the management of small businesses , but this idea was extended to and applied to the whole industry in several decades . The example of Annie Turnbo depicts that poverty and lack of income was the main forces for creativity and innovations . Personal power of Annie Turnbo was based on her charismatic qualities inspiring millions of women to follow her example and pay a special attention to their hair . Facing a skeptical black community , she recalled "I went around in the buggy and made speeches , demonstrated the shampoo on myself , and talked about cleanliness and hygiene , until they realized I was right (p . 330 . For Rubinstein , beauty professional was a person who is human in her sympathies , and will express these sympathies thru (sic ) science (p 331

In general , three women chose a particular course of action in preference to others , and continued with a chosen action in the face of...