Preview

The Pros And Cons Of Appearance-Based Employee Discrimination

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
107 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Pros And Cons Of Appearance-Based Employee Discrimination
In conclusion, discrimination on the basis of appearance is not different than discrimination on the basis of race, gender, class, disability and sex as beauty standards are pernicious. The unfair advantage attractive individuals receive more job offers, better advancement opportunities, and higher salaries. Through the statistics shown in The Beauty Bias, appearance-based employment discrimination exists, where can we go with it? Creating legislation to support the disadvantages unattractive individuals face would decrease appearance discrimination, employers have towards their employees. Individuals deserve an equal opportunity to substantiate their potential and dedication without being discriminated upon on an irrelevant matter such as

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cross 9e TBB U05

    • 464 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Jim is shorter than Kevin, and Lonna is less attractive than Merilyn. Research shows that compared with taller men and more attractive individuals, Jim will likely make less income and Lonna will receive poorer performance reviews and a lower salary. Appearance-based discrimination has been barred by…

    • 464 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Going for the Look Article

    • 1977 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Hiring for looks is old news in some industries, as cocktail waitresses, strippers and previous generations of flight attendants know all too well. But many companies have taken that approach to sophisticated new heights in recent years, hiring workers to project an image.…

    • 1977 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Needless to say, countless people owe their professional and financial success to their charmingly good looks. It’s a well-known fact that being attractive gets you through the door in most social settings. Society should start making more image conscious campaigns promoting self love and demonstrating that beauty isn’t…

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Shallow Hal Research Paper

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages

    People who argue ‘There are some reasons that an attractive person is treated better’ because attractive people know how to express themselves and be more positive than unattractive people. There are support reasons that attractive people could grow up in that way because they did not be hurt or treated badly from other people. There is some truth in it. I don’t want to reject this point of view because when I look around, people who are not fit on beauty standard what society tells are usually gloomy, shy and passive. Nonetheless, this reasons cannot justify the…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Through my reading and interpretation of this essay, I’ve come to realize that there will always be discrimination because of how a person looks, acts, and presents themselves, but I don’t think there should be a reason for individuals to get so distraught over the issue. Although looks and physical appearance shouldn’t be something one person should judge another over, I firmly believe there are certain standards for particular situations, and we, as people, should come to understand that. When Rhode brought forward the issue with the waitress being denied a larger uniform due to health issues, I felt sorry for her, almost to the point of pity. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the casino, just like any other business, had a certain image to uphold, and they had a certain standard for the way their employees should look and portray themselves. And even though she had a legitimate reason why she gained some weight, the waitress signed a contract with the casino which required her to keep an “hourglass figure” (247).…

    • 550 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the 19th century, many American cities banned public appearances by "unsightly" individuals. A Chicago ordinance was typical: "Any person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting subject . . . shall not . . . expose himself to public view, under the penalty of a fine of $1 for each offense." Although the government is no longer in the business of enforcing such discrimination, it still allows businesses, schools and other organizations to indulge their own prejudices. Over the past half-century, the United States has expanded protections against discrimination to include race, religion, sex, age, disability and, in a growing number of jurisdictions, sexual orientation. Yet bias based on appearance remains perfectly permissible in all but one state and six cities and counties. Across the rest of the country, looks are the last bastion of acceptable bigotry. We all know that appearance matters, but the price of prejudice can be steeper than we often assume. In Texas in 1994, an obese woman was rejected for a job as a bus driver when a company doctor assumed she was not up to the task after watching her, in his words, "waddling down the hall." He did not perform any agility tests to determine whether she was, as the company would later claim, unfit to evacuate the bus in the event of an accident.…

    • 1746 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After doing some more research, I realized that appearance discrimination is very common, especially in the workplace. In his paper, Akst stated that “plain people earn less than people of average looks, who earn less than the good-looking” (Akst 336). However, this seems to be a very subjective means of measurement, which makes his proof seem quite weak. In fact, the entire idea of measuring one’s attractiveness seems to be very abstract and opinion-based, which is why conducting more research from more sources may be…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Going for the Look

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Times continue to change and today people tend to judge a person on how they look. Companies are becoming more competitive and are looking for ways to attract customers. More retailers and companies are using the approach to hire based on appearance rather than work capability. Hiring should be based on work ethic, rather than appearance which can be discriminating.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When returning back to Wanzek’s after layoff I had noticed in my paycheck I had lost $2 an hour in pay when I had received a $2 raise and a gift certificate before layoff. I did report the loss of wage to Tina Harrison in Human Resources and she would e-mail Phyllis at Headquarters. Anthony Butler has called numerous times and no response. On November 6, 2012 a text was also sent to Phyllis by Anthony Butler in regards to his loss of pay. Phyllis also has not responded.…

    • 2362 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading the article “Going for the Look, But Risking Discrimination,” by Steven Greenhouse from the New York Times. I decided to disagree with Cohen's argument, because it is hurtful and unfair to intelligence, experience and personality. Maybe they don’t have skills or abilities for the job of the company. Then the company will get down even close. The most expensive thing of the 21st century is talented people. So only the beautiful people will make the company become cheaper. Abercrombie is setting a bad example for America and what people should look like. I think Abercrombie has messed up values. You cannot hire someone based only on looks. Everyone has a chance of getting any job not only people that “project” the company image.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Income Inequality Essay

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Although it may seem vain, appearance is very important to many employers when searching for employees of all levels. Many search for a specific type of “look,” and will often offer a higher salary to those who fit within their ideal appearance. For instance, what one wears to an interview could affect if she receives a job placement or not. Biases like this are part of the reason for the large pay gap between women.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Daniel S. Hamermesh is an established Professor in Economics, having taught at Princeton, Michigan State and Texas, whose expertise include applications of labour economics (to beauty). He also appears on national television programmes to discuss economic issues. Hence, he has the relevant knowledge and competency in writing this text. The source publisher, Princeton University Press, is credible as it is based from an established educational institution. Hamermesh (2011) discusses the economic effect beauty has on a company's profits, asserting that having a favourable pool of executives ranked by looks and ensuring that they specialize in tasks that leverage on differences in their looks will raise sales and profits (Hamermesh, 2011, P.97). He first states how appearances can affect employer's hiring decisions (Hamermesh, 2011, P.93), then discusses why good-looking workers raise the firms' bottom lines (Hamermesh, 2011, P.94) which is only applicable when they are in positions capable of inspiring their co-workers (Executives). Finally he evaluates how differences in those executives' looks can be exploited to raise sales and profits. Although some of his arguments are supported by credible evidence, others are supported by mere assumptions. This weakens his thesis as it exposes his arguments to fallacies. Furthermore, the prominence of assumptions made throughout cripples his otherwise structurally coherent thesis.…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nonverbal Components of Delivery and Question-and-Answer Sessions By Angelica Joy A. Balanquit Nonverbal Components of Delivery     The nonverbal components of a delivery are those aspects communicated through our BODIES and FACES. It has a powerful effect on the meanings exchanged between two people. Between 65% and 93% of the total meaning of a message comes to us through non verbal signals.…

    • 1127 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Is beauty only skin deep? Furthermore, is the beauty truly in the eye of the beholder? Many people hold these time-tested axioms to be true; however, modern research has dispelled much of the credibility of these sayings. How others perceive and rate the desirability of a person’s physical features, i.e. their physical attractiveness, plays an enormous role in the formation of relationships and opportunities to climb the socio-economic ladder. The effect of physical attractiveness reaches across cultures and plunges into every age group. Diseases such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, which tend to effect young girls, can be attributed to their desire to enhance their physical features. Older people do not escape the vortex of desire for physical beauty either, seeing that they engage in face lifts and botox injections for their physical enhancement. Physical Attractiveness has been the cornerstone of several markets, including the fitness, cosmetic, and fashion industries. This could be explained by the vast advantages of being physically attractive. Physically attractive people are preferred over others, receive higher acclaim from colleagues, and obtain more job opportunities; especially in the modeling industry. Most of these unmerited rewards are based on false assumptions by modern society. One such erroneous assumption that society holds is that physically attractive people are more intelligent than lesser attractive people! Physically attractive people are also assumed to be more successful. Though there is no correlation between physically attractiveness and success, it is fair to say that people with more desirable physical attributes are given advantages that others are not. By having physically attractive features, one administers a positive influence on the attitudes of observers, which facilitates the creation of new relationships and job opportunities.…

    • 1753 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Aristotle once said, “Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.” After thousands of years, this concept of beauty and its forthcoming advantages continues to hold. But first, what makes someone enjoyable to look at? There are some obvious and universal traits of beauty. According to Dina Spector, “High cheekbones, fuller lips, big eyes, and a thin chin are associated with sexiness in women, whereas a big jaw and broad chin are preferred in men. Smooth skin, shiny hair, and facial symmetry are also key aspects of beauty.”(3) Despite what many believe, beauty is not in fact in the eye of the beholder. In 1971, researchers at the University of Michigan created the first rating system in an attempt to quantify beauty. Participants were asked to rate others beauty on a 5-1 scale, whereas 5 equates strikingly beautiful or handsome, 4 - good-looking, 3 - average looks, 2 - quite plain, and 1 - homely. While the majority of people were ranked as average, all of the ratings held a surprisingly strong consistency within and across cultures. Daniel Hamermesh, Professor of Economics at the University of Texas and author of Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful used this system along with many others to further his study of “pulchronomics”, or beauty’s relationship with economics. In his book, Hamermesh explains, “I was not the first to look at the relationship between beauty and economic outcomes, that’s an old topic. I was however, the first to examine it using a nationally representative sample of adults and to do so in the context of economic models of the determination of earnings.”(4) He found that attractive people are typically hired sooner, get promotions more quickly, and are paid more than their less-attractive coworkers.…

    • 1226 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays