(61) {{U}}Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable occupations. Personal consultants give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants. But in the executive circle, beauty can become a liability.{{/U}}
While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder, it is harmful to a woman.
(62) {{U}}Handsome male executives were considered to have more integrity than plainer men: effort and ability, were thought to account for their success.{{/U}}
Attractive female executives were considered to have less integrity than unattractive ones; their success was attributed not to their ability but to factors such as luck.
All unattractive women executive were thought to have more integrity and to be more capable than the attractive female executives.(63) {{U}}Interestingly. though the rise of the unattractive overnight success was attributed more to personal relationships and less to ability, than was that of attractive overnight successes.{{/U}}
Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman is perceived to be more feminine and an attractive man more masculine than the less attractive ones. Thus,(64) {{U}}an attractive woman has an advantage in traditionally female job. but an attractive woman in a traditionally masculine position an pears to lack the "masculine" qualities required.{{/U}}
This is true even in politics. "When the only clue is how he or she looks, people treat men and women differently." Says Anne Bowman, who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates. She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs, one of men and one of women, in order of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political office. They were asked to rank them again, in the order they would vote for them.
(65) {{U}}The results showed that attractive male utterly defeated unattractively men. but the women who had been ranked, most attractive invariably received the fewest votes.{{/U}}