Peggy Olson: Driven, Working Girl
Peggy Olson is a very prominent character in "Mad Men". Although she is just as independent as Joan is, she has a different, not-as-sexual way to go about her advancement through Sterling Cooper Draper Price. For instance, Peggy started out as Don Draper's secretary the first season, and built her way up to an account manger towards the end of the show. She did not need to sleep her way to the top, although she did sleep with some authority, but they weren't directly related to her advancement seeking, instead she defies the odds and works her way up by herself. In this sense, she is the character that a lot of women watching the show can relate to.
According to Lucky Strike, what we see is that Peggy achieves her professional goals by acting more masculine (p. 153). She successfully demands a raise from Don, and then she has no problem with firing an actress that the men liked for more than just her acting ability. In addition, when she was not getting what she wanted from SCDP, she looks for employment elsewhere, which is another interesting thing to do, as most other workplaces will not even hire her as more than a secretary. Thankfully, this was a job she was recruited for, so she was able to have easier access to success. Although she does eventually go to this new firm, her advancement is still hindered by sexual politics and closed-door meetings that she isn't asked to join (Stern 2012).
Even in her fashion choices we see that Peggy is trying to appeal to the males, all while maintaining her femininity (Goodlad 2013 p.176). For example, in the picture above, we see that Peggy is waring something that resembles a tie around her neck (Goodly 2013). The men on Madison avenue wear suits and ties, therefore, she is creating a more feminine version of that within her fashion choices. She's not overtly beautiful like Joan and Betty, and she does't go out of the way to make herself look that way either. She is trying to attain the male gaze by identifying with it to an extent. This is another example of how Peggy has begun to compromise her own femininity for the sake of male respect in the offices of SCDP.
Not so far in the show however, Peggy does find her self prone to judgment when she goes to get a birth control pill. Her doctor immediately judges her implying that loose girl like her, don't get husbands. Unfortunately for her, the pill didn't even work because she does, unknowingly, become pregnant with the child of Pete Campbell, another SCDP account man, and her whole world is changed. Well, at least you would think, Peggy is so determined to work her way up to the top, that she ends up giving her child away, and focuses just on her career. To her, the pregnancy was impossible because she was a catholic, single working woman who has no time to think about ever having a family, let alone an illegitimate child (Goodlad 2013 p.93).
Throughout her career on Madison avenue, Peggy must compromise her femininity to get ahead in the male-dominated workplace. Whereas on the other hand you have Joan, who embraces her femininity to get ahead, and ultimately scores herself the jaguar account/a place as partner. While neither woman is doing something better than the other, they each much appeal to the male desire in one way or another in order to advance within their career. These appeals to male desire were common for women in the sixties because they weren't respected as anything other than housewives, and if they wanted that respect elsewhere they had to "earn" it.
In further posts I will go into more detail about the position of a working girl in the sixties, and examine how their relationship with their superiors (males) influenced their fluidity within the workplace.
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