Appearance And Its Effects On The United States

“We all know that appearance matters, but the price of prejudice can be steeper than we often assume” (Washington1.) Published originally in the Washington Post on May 23,2010 by Deborah L. Rhode. Rhode the Professor of law and legal director at Stanford University in her essay “Why Looks Are The Last Bastion Of Discrimination,” argues that an individual's physical appearance is one of the few qualities of their personal identity that other people are legally within their rights to discriminate against. Rhode states her thesis clearly explaining the forthcoming reasons she will offer to uphold her position. Rhode believes that discriminating against individuals based on their appearance is wrong, and is often overlooked in many environments such as the workforce. Many think it is crucial that discrimination on looks is banned in workplaces, schools, and most other organizations.

In some communities, employers dislike to employ women. In others they are reluctant to hire

Why women are discounted by employers and not men is interesting. Men have judged women based on their looks for years even in the workplace. This is a form of sexual objectification and undervaluing women according to Caroline Heldman, (2013). One would think that due to The Equal Pay Act that positive business acumen would be practiced for the greatest good based on skill and not using discriminatory practices based on sex and looks. The utilitarian theory will be evaluated to identify the greatest good for the greatest number as it pertains to women being discounted and

In the society we all live in today, where outside beauty is emphasized more than inner beauty, businesses have realized how to utilize that view to their own benefit They have looked at trends and realized that it is profitable to hire those with outer beauty. However, since certain businesses are only hiring certain ethnicities in order to project that image, it has been questioned whether these businesses are discriminating. In the article, Going for the Look, but Risking Discrimination, it says that " hiring attractive people is not necessarily illegal, but discriminating on the basis of age, sex, and ethnicity is." The companies cannot help it that only certain types of people fit their marketing image and their hiring strategies are

Today’s jobseeker has tough competition. In our text book readings “Judging by the Cover” (657-658), Bonny Gainley begins the argument of the paper by stating that job seekers must be careful when they make personal choices that initially will affect their chances of entering the workplace. People have a need to be accepted by others just the way they are, in the same way people continue to say, “you can’t judge a book by its cover”, yet people do based solely on their personal appearances. That goes for businesses as well, “[t]he bottom line is that businesses exist to make money. Whether it seems fair or not, most employers do care about the personal appearances of the people they hire because those people represent the business to its customers”.

A considerable volume of psychological research has focused on the decision-making process in humans, from everyday decisions on what to buy in grocery stores to the global life decisions that will influence all other aspects of life. Some of these decisions involve making judgments about other individuals of our own species: what kind of a person are they? Do we like them? Are they fit for a given task? Although a lot of times humans answer those questions on a conscious level using anecdotal evidence or direct experiences, a growing number of studies have shown that subconscious ‘shortcuts’ consisting of fixed opinions about certain characteristics of individuals have dramatic influence on our perception of the people possessing those characteristics. These are referred

In people’s perspective, attractiveness possess a wide variety of positive personal qualities compared to unattractive people. Result from the study on physical attractiveness stereotypes show the attractive people had the most positive ratings. For example, they are judged as less disturbed, rated as happier and more successful, and more likely to be hired after a job interview. Thus, the concept of attractiveness having a correlation between an individual’s physical appearance and his/her achievements, abilities, psychological well-being and/or other status characteristics to create a perception is

Gender stereotypes are one of the most common encountered on a daily basis. The infamous ‘Glass Ceiling’ still exists in many areas of the professional world, restricting valid promotions simply based on gender. This type of concept can be verified by looking at comparative weekly wages of other professionals in a variety of industries. Most people will generally see female dominated occupations, such as nurse, teacher and secretary as requiring feminine personality traits and physical attributes for success; whereas male dominated occupations such as doctor, lawyer, and business executive are seen to require male personality traits for success (Sanderson, 2010, p. 344).

“Judging by the Cover,” is an essay written in 2003 by Bonny Gainley who is a consultant, speaker, and author. It originally appeared in an opinion column in a Colorado newspaper. Although non-discriminatory, she believes that people project messages about themselves with their appearance. This essay seems to be intended for recent graduates and young job seekers. The main point that she tries to explain to the reader is that even though our family and friends may accept us for who we are, employers may not.

In the race for the presidency between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, many would say that the debate was the most influential factor. Specifically the decision of makeup or no makeup that the two candidates had to make. Before the debate, Nixon had just recently recovered from a broken knee and was exhausted from the long day, but then refused makeup when it was offered to him. Kennedy, on the other hand, had spent the day relaxing and rehearsing, and accepted makeup, looking fully rejuvenated (Morton). TV viewers of the debate said JFK won, while the radio audience claimed it was a draw. Those who could see the competitors were more focused on the contrast in their appearances than their responses to important global issues. If we deem our leaders responsible based on their face rather than their eligibility, we’ll lead ourselves down a destructive path of failure. Also, on the labor side of things, Deborah Rhodes mentioned in her book that short men have a disadvantage in earnings, hiring, and career advancement (Rhodes, pg. 93). Employers are constantly dismissing individuals because they don’t meet some aesthetic quota, even when it doesn’t apply to the type of work for which they’re applying. They evaluate their interviewees using irrelevant information, while possibly affecting the company’s

Stereotype threats are negative consequences about one’s race, sex, nationality, or social group. Stereotype threats are used a lot more frequently than people realize. Gender is a powerful stereotype that affects many people’s decisions and actions. The stereotype of women in the workplace has come a long way even in the last twenty years. Many businesses tend to want to diversify their demographics by making the ratio of men to women almost equal. “Demographic projections anticipate that by the year 2000 women will exceed 50 per cent of the total workforce…” (Johnston and Packer, 1987). Women were able to make their way in to the workplace when men were off at war during the 1950s. During this time, women proved their ability to do the same kind of jobs men did. Many women worked as machinist, factory workers, and clergies.

Cann, A., Siegfried, W., & Pearce, L. (1981). Forced attention to specific applicant qualifications: Impact on physical attractiveness and sex of applicant biases. The Journal of Personnel Psychology, 34, 65-66.

Some organizations mirror society’s idea about which group of workers are appropriate for certain types of jobs. Although hiring and promotion are supposed to be based on rational and universal criteria, they often express informal expectations about gender, race, and class of the people best suited for particular positions, producing race and gender stratified work forces. Men are thought to be more ambitious, task-oriented, and work involved; while women are considered less motivated, less committed, and more geared towards work relationships than work itself.

Overall people perceived as beautiful have more job opportunities as well as a higher chance for advancement in their carriers. A study was conducted by the University of North Carolina at Pembroke on the topic of the relationship between attractiveness of professors and the perceived quality of their teaching. What the study found out was a strong relationship between the two – “results indicated that as hotness ratings increased, so did ratings on overall quality, clarity, and helpfulness. Additionally, further analysis indicated that the greater the percentage of hotness ratings to overall ratings, the more likely that students rated the professors favorably.” Moreover research shows that attractive people perform better when interviewed. An interesting fact is

Furthermore, Olivola and Todorov (2010) state that voters actually infer politicians’ personality traits and form impressions on politicians based on their physical appearance