Study: Attractive Women Are Discriminated Against for Certain Jobs

Most of us think that pretty women get all the benefits of in life, whether in the personal or professional realms. It turns out that this isn't always the case. A recent study conducted at The University of Colorado Denver Business School showed that attractive women face discrimination when applying for jobs where looks are not important, like positions in security, prison guarding and tow truck driving.

"In these professions being attractive was highly detrimental to women," said Stefanie Johnson, one of the researchers on the study. "In every other kind of job, attractive women were preferred. This wasn't the case with men which shows that there is still a double standard when it comes to gender." The study is set to be published in the prestigious Journal of Social Psychology.

In the study, participants were given a list of jobs and pictures of applicants. They were then asked to sort the applicants based upon their suitability for each job. There were 55 men and 55 women whose images were used in the analysis. Although attractive women were typically pushed out of certain jobs, the same was not true for men. Attractive men were "given opportunities" by study participants in a variety of professions and were not judged based on their looks.


This doesn't mean that we should start to feel sorry for attractive people. Good-looking people are still granted significant advantages in the workplace, including more promotions and higher salaries. Most of us know that how you look can change everything in terms of your career. It appears that this study provides tremendous support for that notion.


Yet there are other important business decisions to learn from it. Those who hire solely based on a person's looks are not engaging in a very profitable way of doing business. Just because a woman is pretty, does not mean that she is not the best person for a "masculine" job. Employers who judge based on looks may also be subject to discrimination lawsuits, which can be costly in the long-run.

Has this ever happened to you or someone you know? Have you ever felt that you were kept out of certain positions for being "too attractive," as allegedly happened to banking employee Debrahlee Lorenzana?