Aesthetic labor for women has always been hidden behind the closed doors of bathrooms or a mother’s dressing table. Stepping inside a beauty salon is like entering a private space or a secret factory concealed from the masses, where women are wholly committed to beautification and self-transformation. But as beauty critic Jessica DeFino once asked, if beautification requires so much work, then who’s the boss? The cosmetics and beauty industry has traditionally been perceived as feminine, but most of the leaders in this industry are actually men. The beauty industry worldwide has an average of just 29 percent female leadership across boards and executive teams, according to a 2016 report by LedBetter Gender Equality Index. Yet aesthetic labor, which refers to the unrecognized work women do to achieve the ‘right look’ for society or their employers, is no longer hidden; it is quite literally what they consume every day through their mobile screens. Beauty routines are no longer passed down to them through their mothers or grandmothers, but through female beauty influencers on YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok. In a world where YouTube and TikTok ‘makeup how to’ and ‘what to…
From Beauty Salons to Online Views: Egyptian Women and the Labor of Beauty
August 14, 2022
