Obese women have job setbacks

Tuesday, May 1, 2012 - 04:00 in Psychology & Sociology

The researchersfound that obesity discrimination was displayed across all selection criteria, such as starting salary, leadership potential, and likelihood of selection for the job. Image: FugeSpot/iStockphoto Obese women are more likely to be discriminated against when applying for jobs and receive lower starting salaries than their non-overweight colleagues, a new study has found.The study, led by Monash University and published in the International Journal of Obesity, examined whether a recently developed measure of anti-fat prejudice, the universal measure of bias (UMB), predicted actual obesity job discrimination.The international research team also assessed whether people’s own body image, and dimensions of personality such as authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, were related to obesity discrimination.Lead researcher, Dr Kerry O’Brien, from the School of Political and Social Inquiry, said the nature of the study was initially concealed from the participants to avoid biased results.“Participants viewed a series of resumes that had a small photo of the...

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