Usually physically attractive people are positively evaluated by others. 
However, women applying for traditionally male jobs were less positively evaluated in search studies, and conclusions suggest that female gender coupled with attractive appearance seems to account for this disadvantage,

The “beauty is beastly effect” is a hiring bias favoring men or less attractive women for “masculine” jobs, described by Yale University’s Madeline E. Heilman and Lois R. Saruwatari.

They found that attractiveness was an advantage for men seeking managerial and non-managerial roles, but attractive women had an advantage only when seeking non-managerial roles.

Attractiveness can be considered a “stigma,” just as disability, gender, pregnancy, obesity, and race, suggested Rice University’s Michelle R. Hebl and Robert E. Kleck of Dartmouth College.
They reported that job seeks in these categories can reduce hiring biases by acknowledging the “stigmatising” characteristic during interviews.

Women who proactively addressed the employer’s conscious or unconscious concern about gender or appearance in a traditionally male role were rated higher in employment suitability in a study by University or Colorado’s Stefanie K. Johnson and Traci Sitzmann, with Anh Thuy Nguyen of Illinois Institute of Technology.

This proactive approach buffered the impact “hostile sexism” while increasing “benevolent sexism’s” link to employment suitability ratings.

Evaluators said they assumed that these candidates possessed more “masculine” traits than other female candidates, which they viewed as an advantage over possessing “feminine” traits at work.

These assessors were less likely to negatively evaluate women behaving in contrast to traditional gender role norms when these women address their appearance, avoiding frequently-observed gender norm “backlash.” 

-*How effective you found “pre-emptive objection-handling” in workplace negotiations?

RELATED POSTS:

• Attractiveness Bias in Groups
• How Much Does Appearance Matter?
• Executive Presence: “Gravitas”, Communication…and Appearance?
• “Self-Packaging” as Personal Brand: Implicit Requirements for Personal Appearance?
• How Accurate are Personality Judgments Based on Physical Appearance?

©Kathryn Welds