A classmate of mine used to work at a mall, and I asked him about this phenomenon. "Girls have to look pretty to sell things," he replied matter-of-factly.

I turned this phrase over in my mind and wondered about this blatant covering of truth. Not even in sex work or modeling, where looks are literally sold, are women required to come to work with a full, made-up face.

I asked about the salesmen, and was told that they need to be clean-shaven and their appearance must be tidy: hair cut, nails cut, tucked-in shirt, and pressed clothes. But they're not asked to augment the length of their lashes or emphasize the poutiness of their lips. They're not contracted into covering up characteristics about their physical appearance. They are not asked to wear masks. They are not made to believe that their true self — unmasked and unhidden — is substandard to beauty. They are not asked to keep their weight down and their waists slim.

Every time I go to a mall, I can't help but notice the unnatural colors that are painted onto these women. I wonder how many fuller women had interviewed for these jobs; I feel like they've dodged bullets. Saleswomen are asked to fit into a socially acceptable stereotype, and so they cover their dark skin with light foundation. They paint neon colors onto their eyelids. They glaze their lips with tacky-looking serums. And worst of all, they seem so lost in this get-up, so beaten by this perverse need to meet impossible standards, and so ready for something better.

Or perhaps I am merely projecting my feminist perspective onto these women, and they are content to acquiesce. Maybe they are actually happy spending their hard-earned cash on liquids and powders and gels and brushes and wands in order to appease the masses and keep their jobs.  Maybe, in this third-world country where all women are expected to  marry a man and have a brood of children, some women actually aspire to have the problems of salesgirls. There are so many layers of emotion and so many sides to consider, and honestly, I'll always have the superiority complex of a western-born-and-raised woman: I'll always feel like I know better than these women because I want more than they want. 

I was taught to accept my desires and, more importantly, I was given the freedom and opportunities to express these desires. That's all I want these saleswomen to have: the chance to be treated like women instead of as girls; to have options and be able to choose how they want to conduct themselves; to decide for themselves who they are and how they want to be perceived.

Maria Elizabeth Rubio