As I’ve grown more experienced, I’ve also grown more accustomed to specific cultural expectations within the professional world. At CAUSE, we’ve talked about how the term “professionalism” can be harmful and exclusive, but we’ve also discussed how adhering to a culture of traditional professionalism can grant us access to more spaces.
In short, professionalism is much more than just a dress code. Professionalism involves how you act and speak with others. Professionalism describes how you take up space within the workplace and what you can do with that space.
This week, I had the opportunity to attend the City of Rosemead’s event for swearing in the mayor, as well participate in a mock-endorsement panel with my cohort. At the event in Rosemead, Mayor Pro Tempore Honorable John Tang invited his daughters to be a central part of the ceremony by allowing them to read the statements that swore him in. At our mock-endorsement panel, former Los Angeles City Council candidate Cyndi Otteson brought her daughter with her, and her daughter played games on her iPad while Cyndi participated in the event. After both events, I had a conversation about professionalism with my supervisor, Nancy Yap, the Executive Director at CAUSE.
Nancy and I agreed that our work culture criminalizes bringing your kids to work. We’ve been taught that it’s “unprofessional” to bring your children into the workplace. During my conversation with Nancy, we talked about access - it’s actually a learning experience for kids to be around this type of work, because children feel validated by being involved. If your child can respectfully accompany you to your workplace, you shouldn’t have to be forced to invest in childcare.
So, how do we change the culture? It’s not irresponsible or unprofessional to introduce children to the professional world at a young age. We could be inspiring and motivating them, while helping them think about their futures. There shouldn’t be bias towards people who bring their kids to work and people shouldn’t look at you differently. If they can be respectful, children can learn quite a lot from your place of work! And, you can spend more time with your family. You shouldn’t have to choose between your kids and your career. Changing the culture is hard, especially when you’re trying to change such a cemented aspect of it. When I’m older, I hope to be as bold as the the Honorable John Tang or Cydni Otteson, and bring my children to work - even if I only spark one conversation by doing that (like the one Nancy and I had), I will have done my part in helping to change the culture.