Too pretty for construction: Study shows beauty hinders women’s chances in masculine jobs

Although studies show that, in general, attractive men and women enjoy better job prospects and higher incomes than their less attractive peers, new research indicates that the reverse is true when it comes to women applying for masculine jobs such as in construction.

The research involved inserting pretty “decoys” among applicants to the job of construction manager, plumber and others, with the results confirming researchers’ hypothesis that attractiveness worked against women who were nevertheless qualified for the job.

It proved the “beauty-is-beastly” effect, in the words of Stefanie Johnson, associate professor at Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado, Boulder, who conducted the research with Elsa Chan, from City University of Hong Kong.

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About the Author: DrStefanieKJohnson

Dr. Stefanie K. Johnson is an Associate Professor of Management at the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder. She holds a Ph.D. from Rice University and is particularly interested in the effects of unconscious biases in the evaluation of women and minorities, with the goal of finding ways to mitigate those biases. Dr. Johnson brings bias to light with an engaging and humorous approach to advanced scientific research, which has earned her numerous accolades and invitations to present her work at meetings around the world, including the White House for a 2016 summit on diversity in corporate America on National Equal Pay Day, and the 2016 Harvard Negotiation and Leadership Conference. She has published over 70 journal articles and book chapters in outlets such as Harvard Business Review, Journal of Applied Psychology and The Academy of Management Journal. She has extensive consulting experience and has created and delivered leadership-development training with an emphasis on evidence-based practice. In recognition of her unique research, Dr. Johnson has been awarded nearly three million dollars in external funding to study leadership and create leadership development programs aimed at increasing safety. Media outlets featuring her work include: The Economist, Newsweek, Time, and CNN. Stefanie lives in the Boulder Bubble in Colorado with her Biology Professor husband, two young kiddos, and two old kitties.