We usually write about more general things, but when our blood boils, seeing unfair threats to people, we can't help but support the victims of these actions.
Friday 21st May I was just scrolling through my stories when I saw one that left me speechless. Alba Nevado, a young woman hired to work at FITUR, went through one of her most embarrassing and sad times when was treated as it was her fault due to her size.
A size 46.
She had been given a one-size-fits-all fitted navy blue dress, and after reporting that her uniform was the wrong size for hers, the next day they greeted Alba by saying: "ah, are you the one with the problem?".
So is having a size 46 a problem?
She, therefore, decided to send a message on her Instagram account (@alba.nevado) exposing her voice and her story:
HOSTESS 2021 ⛔⛔ I'VE HAD IT! ⛔⛔ In the middle of the year 2021 and being a time marked by the supposed learning of the human being after the experience of the pandemic, I have been rejected because of my size and weight. I was supposed to work from May 19th to 23rd as a hostess at Fitur, that was the contract that I signed with the BEST WAY hostess and congress agency. Yesterday, after training and antigen testing, they gave me my uniform. A tight fitting navy blue dress in one size fits all. Well, that garment, to this day, has become the symbol of oppression and the cut-off mark to know whether or not you enter the perfect body. Apart from the pain and sadness that I feel after having gone through this situation, now I can only think about whether any known or unknown colleague has come to go through this. IT HURTS IN MY SOUL THAT I AM NOT ALLOWED TO WORK FOR NOT HAVING ONE SIZE. That is why I upload this video, to report a situation and so that no woman has to go through this again. ENOUGH is ENOUGH
Screenshot of the original caption:
Although the IFEMA company has apologized for what happened, Alba uploaded this video to report a situation and an event that still happens today in 2021, unfortunately, to millions of women around the world, both in the workplace and on social media platforms.
In fact, living in a society like today involves being continuously exposed to images of apparently perfect bodies, which do not tolerate imperfections: in 657 Spanish girls, almost 50% expressed the desire for a leaner body, despite having a normal body weight.
Not matching these canons of ideal beauty means becoming victims of body shaming more easily, with possible repercussions on physical and psychological health.
What many seem to underestimate concerns the importance of body image as a crucial aspect of a person's self-esteem, and it becomes even more so in the relationship she/he is about to establish with others, significant or not.
In the world of tourism and hospitality, appearance clearly becomes fundamental, which is why the concept of beauty always seems to remain firm on the waistline, measurements, and sizes of the uniform.
To deal with this type of complexity it is necessary to develop cognitive redundancy, that is the ability to generate different and varied thinking alternatives: this is why today we are starting to talk about forms of widespread leadership, in which greater autonomy and listening to ideas are guaranteed in various levels of the organization.
The ESHClub team and the people we work with strongly believe that a diverse team works well when you start talking about inclusion and go every way you can to implement it.
What does it mean? That people feel included in the workplace and therefore not discriminated against for who they are nor overexposed, they simply have the same opportunities as everyone else.
It is very important that this is considered starting from the selection process in which the resources are involved, given the so-called 'candidate experience', to then continue with the recruitment process in which they are managed, trained, evaluated, and evaluated rewarded.
In short, inclusion must go hand in hand with diversity in all recruitment.
This means that, in addition to offering equal opportunities to all employees, already hired or potential, procedures must be improved according to the various needs to ensure that diversity is respected at every stage of recruiting, whether it is physical or by sexual orientation, age, culture, gender identity, etc.
Furthermore, a person's self-esteem goes to the intimate and sexual sphere and leads to the establishment of an image of oneself as an individual not worthy of being looked at, touched, loved: a representation that, if not adequately addressed and analyzed in all its erroneous distortions that are gradually taking root, can risk stiffening the way of approaching others, creating wrong and damaging beliefs for the person herself/himself.
Cardinal, today more than ever, is the attitude to take care of one's body, protecting it from unfounded attacks by others and one's own convictions of inadequacy. The truth is that we are all carriers of insecurities and doubts, and we feel the same degree of shame when we are pointed out.
If the numbers count in sizes, even words can do a lot.
Identifying oneself with certain definitions, unfortunately, creates a gap: creating a classification is unavoidable. Often, however, there is a risk that terms like curvy seem more like a gentle definition of exaggerated sizes: going beyond the canons of what is now "thin" does not necessarily mean "fat", in between there is a universe of normality and beauty. They are all labels, having a 46 only indicates that you don't have a 40: in an ideal world, this gap shouldn't even exist.
In an American survey carried out among the heads of personnel of some companies, it was found that those who select the personnel, place the beauty and size they wear in third place after experience and safety, leaving at the last places of the evaluation the Curriculum Vitae. Therefore beauty and “right” size, which corresponds to 40/42, are a factor of competitiveness in the world of work. Cases of discrimination at work due to the wrong size are increasing and the demand for "good looks" is increasing; but what does beautiful presence mean?
Beauty and thinness have become a social status symbol; but society has not yet understood that beauty goes well beyond size 42 also because you can be elegant, sensual, harmonious, and pleasant outside the stereotypes imposed on your body.
Being beautiful is a fortune, but feeling beautiful is an achievement, which requires interior work, not just an aesthetic one.
If we do not feel comfortable with our body at a certain moment of our life, it is more than the right to take care of it and improve ourselves, also working on the concept of what is perfect for ourselves: how we feel good about our body.
But if being beautiful coincides with going from size 48 to 40, only to find the dream job, this becomes a social duty or even blackmail.
Some girls owe their beauty and harmony precisely to their shapes, pronounced hips, and breasts because it is their physical conformation. That doesn't mean they don't go to the gym, or that they don't take care of themselves. It means that the body contains those shapes that make them so beautiful.
However, when we talk about body-shaming we think immediately of the female sex. In reality, there is also male body-shaming, which has an equally negative power and is probably equally widespread, but which is less talked about. In fact, men tend to underestimate it by burying the discomfort with defense mechanisms.
We grew up in a society in which the concept of "virility" is so deeply rooted in culture and education that we take every externalization as a natural development of things. Not to be asked precisely why we find ourselves feeling the need to become more and more "big and strong", to change the shape of our body, to have to show our hair.
Precisely because the male and female bodies are different, the way of hitting and negativizing the male body is also different. The most common criticisms concern women, the body or parts of it (pectoral, abdominal, thighs), but often also concern height or hairiness.
Unlike women, however, men have more difficulty in expressing themselves and talking about topics that put them in difficulty: men should also have the courage to express themselves and speak; only in this way we can educate ourselves (but above all other people) to get out of "Definition" of what a man is or should be and each finds his own special way of expressing himself.
Beauty is not a question of size (skin color or gender): our bodies, thin or plump, will be truly free and beautiful as they are only when the economy truly becomes at the service of people and not at their command. That is when we will be able to give ourselves new rules and objectives other than predatory profit.
It is our duty to spread this message in humankind that struggles to accept changes and evolutions of thought.
We thank Alba for sharing such a message, one voice can bring courage to many others.