I'm blaming bows.

I have noticed that the politics here and kind of everywhere else, also, has taken a decidedly "woman are second class citizens" stance.  Being a feminist before I knew that everyone wasn't one or that there even needed to be one, I had to really try to examine my memory to tell how we got to where we are today.
I once argued with a male teacher in public school about whether women had equal rights.  He said no, not by law, I took the stance that was impossible because I was equal to anyone.  My lack of understanding of the law and what the law had to do with that was huge.  I'm still pretty sure I'm equal to anyone, though.
But I get the law part now.  It only took 50 years of anecdotal stories and news reports, but I get it.  I do think that women in this country were making an effort, and then I look up and almost all the women in politics look like Tammy Faye Bakker, perfectly coiffed church hair, doll make-up, wearing nice office skirt suits and heels.  I work.  And the people in skirts are inevitably in the executive offices in Jimmy Choos.
Why would anyone subject their body and their feet to work, even highly powerful, executive work, in uncomfortable shoes (sorry jimmy, I'm sure they are the bomb, but 4 inch heels are 4 inch heels).
Then you catch them commiserating with their other female power brokers about men not giving them respect, not treating them seriously, calling them doll saying something ridiculous like," honey, how about a cup of coffee while we men work" even though they are totally lateral on the organizational chart, and they are angry.  I get the angry.  I have felt that anger--but I have not felt the anger from a lateral or higher position while decked out like a Barbie doll.
I'm blaming hair bows.
If you watch the popularity of hair bows, as it goes up, women are seen as more vapid, girly, (and girly is the same as calling you a child--what adult wants to be called a child?) more shallow, superficial, more worried about attracting a man and less worried about impressing a business/campaign/world.
Hair bows have been more popular for the last 15 years than since the 1950's.  We stick them on the heads of our baby girls ("don't put that thing on my son, are you nuts") right after birth, and continue to decorate our daughters with them throughout their lives.  I have seen competitive softball teams where all the girls had matching pink and zebra bows instead of hats (wasn't that hat bill about the sun?).  And there are adult female hair bows, usually less pastel, but frequently more flamboyant, with jewels and feathers and chiffon, perfect for a masquerade ball, but seen in the office hooked into a messy ponytail.
I am not really against self-embellishment.  I am not the "tattoos are of the debil"  or the piercing police that every workplace has--usually made of women in skirt suits and high heels and hair bows.--the tats and studs don't bother me because they are pretty equal opportunity and permanent without going to some effort to remove them.  But no one can say--"I know the shoes are not really work appropriate and bow is awfully cute, but they were affixed to my body at a much earlier age and won't come off"
Women need to take themselves seriously.  They need to see themselves as more than something to be looked at, more than someone whose power comes from their appeal, someone that is just of capable of giving orders and creating game plans and managing meetings in a pair of chinos and a shirt standing flat on the ground as anyone else in the room.  And they need to stop being the first person to denigrate the coworker that is not dressed to the nines, 3 hour hair, killer shoes and pretty face.  Unless you are a model, that is not your job, and no one really takes models seriously when they open their mouths---even if they are brilliant.
I would love to see the equal rights amendment ratified in my lifetime.  At eight, I was sure that had happened hundreds of years earlier.  But in an hour, when I go to work, I will be invisible (and I like it that way) but the women in powerful positions will be giggling to the jokes the men tell, even if they aren't funny, getting them
coffee, and batting their eyes as they get in the personal space of whatever man is in charge of what their department needs.
The message is simple, teach your daughters they are all right in jeans and a t-shirt that has no glitter or sequins, even if it is just one day a week.  When they talk, listen to what they say, don't pat them on the head and tell them how cute-pretty-beautiful-sweet-funny-nice- they are or look.  When they talk about how someone else dresses or someone else's bad hair day or ugly shoes, let them know those things aren't important.
And as a role model, do not spend 4 hours getting dressed for a 1 hour event.  It makes your own focus obvious.  If it ok to be plain.  It is ok to have your hair that does what your hair does.  It is ok to get older or have scars or whatever thing about your own appearance you hate.  And if you can be ok in your own skin, she will see she is ok also. 
If the only way we can tell the difference between our daughters and our sons is by the way they dress, perhaps we are trying to make more of those differences than was ever intended.