Even more so when pretty women work in so-called male jobs; they can be seen as violating gender norms, writes Stefanie K. Johnson

After I did a presentation on the downsides of attractiveness for women, a person in the audience asked me if I thought my appearance had helped me get ahead in my career. I was not quite sure how to respond. The individual either thought I was unattractive (and was so bold as to publicly state this fact) and was asking if being so unattractive had helped me get ahead or thought I was attractive (still a bold move to call me out) and clearly had not paid attention to the presentation. I chose to answer with, “I dunno,” and point out that in academia our research is generally reviewed “blind” so the reviewers don’t know who you are and, therefore, don’t know how you look. In any case, it is clear that most people think that looks matter and don’t feel at all sheepish about pointing that out. I would agree that looks matter – but it is not always in the way that most people think.

Most research shows that good looks are beneficial for men and women at work. For example, research often shows that attractive individuals earn more money than less attractive individuals – about 20 per cent more! But this well-known finding has come under question as new research shows that very attractive people and very unattractive people tend to earn more than their less extreme counterparts. The study of 20,745 participants further suggests that the findings don’t really demonstrate a bias. In fact, attractive individuals only earn more because they are more intelligent, more healthy, and have better personalities than those with more average levels of physical attractiveness. So much for the beauty premium.

Read Entire London School of Economics Business Review article