Cleavage and women in power

There have been a number of news commentaries lately about the issue of cleavage and female politicians. Apparently my hero Hillary has sported some in the US, and the issue has been even more frequently discussed lately here in the UK. Let’s think about the problem here (with apologies to anyone who knows me and would rather not go through an analysis of life with non-microscopic breasts). A woman who has made it to the level of power where she is going to be seen on telly or in newspapers is likely to be older. We who are no longer 19 tend to have larger gazongas (that’s a technical term) than the perky (and anorexic) 19 year olds in Vogue adverts. In Europe it seems to be more acceptable to have some cleavage compared with the US, although they sometimes go too far here for my tastes. But it doesn’t change the overall picture. Womens’ dress codes do not have an equivalent to a buttoned up shirt-with-tie-and-jacket scenario that is the standard uniform for men. In fact, the question of “what should I wear?” is far more complicated for a professional woman in all circumstances: at work, at conferences/trade-shows, at work-affiliated parties, we have a harder time in general. We are expected to be feminine, and yet somehow sex-less. We are supposed to be missing breasts. We are supposed to ignore the advice of the style gurus who say that large breasts are more flattered by v-neck tops than turtlenecks, but if we follow this advice we get chastised for revealing an inch of a crease of flesh in the form of cleavage. Hello, double standard?