Are 18-35 Year Old Women Who Are Seen as Attractive Presented with Significantly More Opportunity in their Careers Compared to Those Who Are Not Seen as So?

Public project summary

Though the bias in regards to attractiveness is relatively well known, this issue tends to disproportionately affect women, with their objectification by society affecting how they are viewed in different professional situations. While the success of some women in certain professional fields is dependent on their appearance, such as for female salespersons, in male dominated fields a woman’s attractiveness can actually be detrimental to how others perceive her, and can lead to a lack of respect. The approach used for this project will be a Quasi Experimental Research in order to study whether 18-35 year old women who are viewed as attractive (in the eyes of the person taking the survey) and thus presented with more opportunities in their careers compared to their peers (considered less attractive). The survey consists of a headshot connected to a fake resume, and the survey respondents will determine whether they would hire this person based upon their resume and image, and afterwards rate their attractiveness on a scale of 1-3, based on their personal perception of attractiveness.