Who decides how women are viewed?

The Beauty Myth has brought to life several different stereotypes and realities about women.  After reading the beginning of The Beauty Myth, my question is, who decides how women are viewed? It appears that while men may expect women to dress and act a certain way, it is the women who keep these gender differences alive.  While some women dress nicely because they like to look and feel pretty, there are most likely women in the world who are dressing the way they do to get a head start.  The book states that their are more men than women using their looks to get ahead, but if I had to guess I would assume it was the opposite.  It is sad what a shallow world we live in but in reality, more women taking this survey my have just been too ashamed to admit that they have used their looks to get ahead.  "By the 1980s, the agents who head hunted anchors kept their test tapes under categories such as, 'Male Anchors: 40-50' with no corresponding categories for women, and ranked women anchors' physical appearance above their delivery skills or their experience."  This shows the double standard for men and women, and how even if males were trying to use their looks to get ahead, it probably would not make a difference.  

On the ABC show The Voice, the judges have their backs turned away from the performers so that they can be voted purely on looks alone.  A show like this give a fair chance for everyone and allowed the people with the best singing voices to make it the furthest in the competition.  What is so interesting about this show is that when a pretty girl comes on stage and the judges don't put their button because they did not love their voice, they are always immediately disappointed that they didn't vote for them.  It is as if the second they see they are a pretty girl, the fact that their voice was not as good as the other contestants is completely forgotten.  This is parallel to how attractive women in an office who may be doing sub-par work can still get away with having their job, simply because they are pretty.  As hard as people may try to have complete equality, as long as people can see, it will be impossible for people not to judge.  Knowing this, I find that it would be very difficult for women to completely reject trying to have a nice appearance.  This also means that both men and women are involved in how women are viewed.