OBESE JOB APPLICANTS FACE BIAS: REPORT

[thelovewitch]

Overweight women are being discriminated against when applying for jobs and receive lower starting salaries than their skinny colleagues, according to a new study.

Monash University, together with the University of Hawaii, examined whether a recently developed measure of anti-fat prejudice, the universal measure of bias (UMB), predicted workplace

Comments

[arisma]

Well, at least they didn't call it a 'shocking' new study, or some such.

[bex]

Basically. There's mountains of evidence that people are judged by their appearances and that conventionally attractive people get all sorts of unearned privilege. This just addresses one facet of it, weight. Not quite earth-shattering! Oh, well. It's good to have all this stuff documented anyway.

[icanseenow]

I think it's not quite the same as just not being deemed attractive. Obese people are shamed for their appearances in a lot of different ways, mostly because it's always claimed it's their own fault like look socially "unaccaptable".

[bex]

Well, sure - but did the authors of the study design it to detect differences in how obese people are seen? I honestly have no idea, I'd have to grab the actual journal article and check their methodology. It's possible they conducted interviews with the employers later to see what they thought of the job candidates, so maybe if they were more likely to use words that reflected a perception that the obese candidates were more likely to be late to work, to be lazy, etc., that could be a finding. It would suggest that the candidates' obesity was transformed into moral judgements. As it's reported in this article, though, the obesity just seems wrapped up in the general judgment of appearance, so it's difficult to say how this study adds something new to the field

[executivehpfan]

Good luck, bb. -crosses fingers-

[sesmo]

Impostor's syndrome is much too common, especially among women. Here is a good way to overcome it: http://www.blogher.com/demolishing-your-personal-critic-overcoming-impostor-syndrome

[vexed_artist]

I find it amazing that they had to do a study to "confirm" what those of us who've been trying to rejoin the workforce have known for years: When you're overweight and female, you get passed up for men first, and "skinny" women next, regardless of qualification.

And God help you if you're fat, female, and a racial minority...

[lone_concertina]

Yeah, the psychology of interviewing is a fascinating and horrible monster, but at least there's a study to back this up and hopefully help with lawsuits for people who have been discriminated against because of their weight.

[stereosymbiosis]

lovely. >:( this makes me rage.

[executivehpfan]

You don't say!