If you are old enough to have lived during the 1980s, you are no doubt aware that back in those days, women were in a very conservative fashion mode which actively encouraged them to look more like men, especially when it came to the fashions that they would don in the workplace. Even when it came to the sort of outfits a woman would wear if she was out with friends or on a date, the shoulder pads would often be in her suit. While the entire notion is a little on the bizarre side from the perspective of the early 21st century, back in those days it did serve a valid purpose in a woman’s wardrobe.
Consider that up until that point, the only roles which most women were able to occupy were either domestic tasks, waiting tables,nursing, teaching children or being administrative assistants (back when they were just called secretaries). In short, prior to that era a woman’s primary role had almost universally been to serve men in some form or another. It is up to evolutionary biologists and sociologists to determine whether this is more a result of nature or nurture, but it had been the case nonetheless. However in the 70s and 80s these trends began to change, and women generally decided that if they were going to be taken seriously in the workplace, they had to put on an aura of power and near masculinity in order to compete as equals.
Overall, the strategy of high heels, solid colors and shoulder pads proved fairly effective, whether or not it was actually needed. The reasonably enlightened men grew to realize that a woman’s role could just as easily be as an equal partner instead of a servant, and in time women’s insecurities about their role in the workplace began to ebb. Hopefully the shoulder pad will stay in its comfortable retirement.