What I am going to talk about today should not surprise anyone, although I, at least, find it pretty interesting, and I wonder if it applies in our neck of the woods as much as it does in Europe, and in France in particular.
According to a research study done by Paris-Sorbonne University, women can gain an edge in the job application process if they supply a resume including a photo showing a bit of their cleavage in the picture.
Over a period of three years, researchers responded to hundreds of job postings using two fictional candidates. Both had nearly identical resumes and background, but one supplied a photo of a woman in a conservative outfit, the other included a photo with a woman wearing a low-cut top showing plenty of bosom.
Researchers found that the woman with the photo showing plenty of skin received more interest than the one wearing the conservative attire.
Out of 200 sales job queries, the woman wearing the low-cut top attracted 62 more job interview offers than her more conservative counterpart. And this cut across all jobs, from sales jobs to accounting jobs, from jobs where perhaps a little skin might be considered attractive assets to those jobs where skin doesn't really matter much ... or at least you might think it doesn't matter much. For instance, in accounting, the woman with the low-cut top generated 68 more job offers than her conservative counterpart.
So, what does this say about the job recruitment process? I don't know, but again, this was done in France, and I think they have a little bit more liberal policies toward attire there than we have here.
But I could be wrong. We are becoming a bit looser in what we wear to work, and yes, I do think many women do dress to impress by showing a little cleavage at work. Heck, fashion today almost forces women to accentuate that part of their bodies, whether they like it or not.
But in the U.S., without any scientific data to support what I am going to say, I don't think the same thing would hold true here if the study were done on our soil. I think we still have that perception that a woman who would show a bit of cleavage in a job resume photo simply wouldn't be as good at her job as one who wore a high-neck blouse.
You can call this whole thing sexist, and that it really doesn't matter what women wear as long as they do their jobs. but in spite of what we are being fed by the media and elsewhere, there are differences between men and women, and one of those differences--or perhaps two of those differences--are in the upper part of our torso.
Breasts have been loved, hated, stigmatized, shown off, covered up, pointed to, shied away from, revered and scorned for eons, and things are the same today. Nothing has changed.
Attitudes on dress have changed, and what we might have considered a bit risque just a generation ago is now accepted as the norm.
Look, honestly, if I were a job recruiter, I think the first thing I would look at would be a resume, but if a woman sent in a photo of herself hanging out of her top, I probably would do a double take and wonder where she was coming from with the photo.
But the resume would still come first, bosom or no bosom.
There really isn't any more to say about this, but I am sure that you can figure out that I will keep you abreast of this situation if the survey is ever run in the United States.
I am sure it will bust out all over if it makes its way to these shores.
I am sure we will nip it in the bust ... err ... bud here, won't we?
Can't imagine that the woman shown in your photo would be selected for any serious job!
ReplyDeleteI agree, but honestly, I would do a double take if this photo was sent to me with her resume. And if she were interviewed by me, and dressed like this, I would hope that she wore something over it, like a jacket or something. We have all seen women in the workplace wear some bizarre things, and you have to wonder why they do it.
ReplyDeleteThere has to be a double standard here, although honestly, if a guy came for an interview in a shirt open to show the world his chest, I would probably feel the same way. I would wonder about their seriousness to what I wanted to hire them to do, whether that is wrong or right.
ReplyDelete