Are you earning less because you're overweight?
Posted
Nov 26 2008, 06:34 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
"Weetabix" asked herself a question that many other workers might wonder about: Is she earning less and being overlooked for promotion because she's overweight?
In an Elastic Waist post called "Can your weight affect your paycheck?" she says her slimmer female co-workers seem to get better treatment. "When you think about ladies of size in your place of employment, are they on the skinny or the fat part of the org chart?" she asks.
A related question is: Does society's preoccupation with thin wear down larger women's self-esteem, causing them to be less confident and less aggressive in furthering their careers?
We suspect that overweight men could ask the same questions, but it seems to us that large women are more often ridiculed or misjudged. A story in the Daily Mail quoted by Weetabix supports this. Referring to a recent U.S. study, it says:
Obese men suffered more than their slim counterparts but the difference was not as great as for overweight women. The researchers said the women seemed to suffer particularly at work where they felt more discriminated against than their overweight male colleagues.
In fact, the story said, overweight women are more likely than others to get fired or laid off.
Weetabix also quotes Steph at Back in Skinny Jeans, who wrote about her former high-powered marketing job in Silicon Valley. Everyone was expected to cultivate a "personal brand," Steph said. For women, she added, "a major part of your personal brand at work is your looks. Yeah, yeah, talent does matter, but it has been proven that better-looking people get bigger pay checks, faster traction up the ladder, better opportunities, and first dibs on all the good stuff."
