(61) 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.
While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the
executive ladder, it is harmful to a woman. (62) Handsome
male executives were considered to have more integrity than plainer men: effort
and ability, were thought to account for their success.
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) 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. 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) 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. 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) The results showed that
attractive male utterly defeated unattractively men. but the women who had been
ranked, most attractive invariably received the fewest votes.