Is Hiring for Beauty Unfair?
Not too long ago, a woman sued a restaurant chain. She was not hired
because
she was not considered physically attractive enough to work there.
When I heard this, my first reaction was to sue an ISP that would not hire
me
as a webmaster because I did not have a degree.
Silly?
Not according to the facts.
We all use standards as part of hiring and marketing schemes. There are
restaurants that are not popular just because of the food. The physical
charms
of its waitresses is part of its marketing scheme.
I live quite near Washington, DC and have some exposure to defense
contractors.
In order to get a defense contract, you must submit a proposal that, among
other things, gives the education of the employees you intend to have on
your
project. The degree becomes a marketing tool as much as the Hooters'
waitress'
C-cup.
Now, the argument usually goes something like this: An education is
something
you can
acquire
, beauty is something you are born with, therefore, it is unethical to use
beauty as a hiring standard.
Hogwash.
In today's era of plastic surgery, makeup and various other beauty
enhancements, one can buy beauty as easily as one can buy an education. In
many
cases, on can buy it more cheaply.
I'll use myself as an example of this principle. My features are regular,
so I
would not require extensive plastic surgery and I have an IQ in the sigma
three
level of the bell curve, so it is unlikely that any college course any
bachelor's degree requires would prove to be too much for me. (There are
LOTS
and LOTS of Nobel-prize winning scientists with IQs lower than mine --
which
should say a great deal about the worth of IQ tests vs. the worth of
drive).
Okay, the standard of beauty is more or less as follows: Regular, even
facial
features with large eyes being a plus (I KNEW my astigmatism would come in
handy somewhere), large breasts (got 'em) large hip to waist ratio (got
it),
long legs (don't got 'em, and even surgery won't give 'em to me)
healthy-looking teeth (my need to see the dentist doesn't actually SHOW),
and
weight in proportion to height . (NOPE! Not even close. I would have to
lose
about 100 pounds to qualify).
To meet the standard of beauty, the first thing I would have to do is lose
100
pounds. Now, I am going to be moderately healthy about this and take two
years
to do it. Okay, a combination of a healthy diet and exercise usually works.
So,
I am going to have to work out at about 70% of my maximum heart rate for
thirty
mintues every day -meaning I am going to be really fanatic and exercise for
3
1/2 hours a week. That's 182 hours a year. It is also going to cost me some
money. Let's go whole hawg and get a membership at a gym. In my area,
you're
looking at about $40/month. Okay, exercise shoesO $40 every three or four
months depending how much you like your feet. I tend to be cheap and only
buy
shoes once a year.
(How much money are we up to now? $40 x 12 X 2 = $960 + another 100 bucks
for
shoes and exercise clothes -- obviously I'm not going the trendy route.
That's
$1060 so far)
Now, you're going to have to eat anyway, but we'll even go the expensive
route
here and eat the prepackaged low-fat stuff. (Christ knows why. It tastes
terrible). At three bucks a meal plus another three bucks a day in snacks,
you're looking at $48/week for food. (This happens to be WAYYY more than my
food budget -- especially when I am watching my diet). That's 2304/year for
food.
Now, it's going to take me a couple of years to reach goal weight I could
crash
diet, but I have no desire to completely ruin my health or make the weight
harder to keep off. I can work in the meantime. And I am going to need to.
Because I have been quite overweight, my breasts are going to sag a bit
once I
hit my weight goal. Also, no amount of dieting is ever going to give me
slender
hips, so a little bit of liposuction is in order. Let's say this is going
to
cost me about 100 hours in time -- both the surgery, follow-ups and time I
cannot use for anything else while I recover.
Breast job and liposuction on the hips is going to run me around 15K. So,
we're
up to an investment of about 282 hours and 18,364K.
Let's turn to the price of a degree.
I already have about a year of college -- on my parents' nickel -- so it
would
take about another 108 credit hours for me to earn a bachelor's degree. I
live
across the street from a liberal arts college where present tuition is
$3,556/year for an in-state student. (Yeah, it's reasonably cheap to go to
school in VA). Let's say I am taking five classes a semester (which I would
blasted well HAVE to do to get the degree in three years). Books are going
to
run -- even if I can get used ones -- about $400/semester. That's another
$2,400. So we're looking at $13068. You're supposed to spend three hours of
study for every hour you spend in class. So, if you're spending 15 hours a
week
in class, you should be spending another 45 hours studying. (Pause for
chortling). I admit that I did reasonably well on far less than that. Let's
be
fair and say you spend 40 hours a week on class and study. A semester is 18
weeks. That's 720 hours a semester. That's 4320 hours to my degree. Now,
none
of this is earning you any money. Like with the acquiring beauty, while
acquiring a degree, you have to live. You need a place to stay and food to
eat.
Acquiring beauty takes little time out of your schedule, so you can work in
the
meantime. But you're going to get a lot more tired acquiring that degree.
So to get beauty for me will take 282 hours and 18,364K.
To get a degree will take $13068 and 4320 hours.
Let's assume my time is worth $10/hr (okay, so I'm undercutting myself a
little) and lets take another looks at those totals.
Beauty: 282 hours @ 10/hr = $2820 + $18,364 = $21184
Degree: 4320 hours @10/hr = $43200 + $13068 = $56268
So, where's the unfairness?
(For the record, I am going to the computer science degree. It pays better
than
a waitress at Hooters in the long run.)
© 1999, Noël Lynne Figart