"Good-looking employee" .. What do you know about the gender gap?

Zahraa Magdy

Employers expect women to come to work every day according to the prevailing societal standards related to self-care, such as hairdressing hair or a veil in agreement with clothes and shoes, to show that they are serious at work. Accordingly, working women spend every day in the morning time to conform to these standards to preserve their consequences.

Appearance gap?
There is a difference in the average wages between women and men due to reasons, including the inability of women to enter some areas, and their delay in career progression due to social restrictions that prevent them from traveling and training, or their decision to have children and take charge of home responsibilities.

But what is not discussed much is the difference in salaries according to appearance, which is sometimes imposed on women in the workplace, clearly or implicitly, and it is known as the appearance interest gap between the sexes.

Cosmetics provide women with the opportunity to look healthy and fashionable, and help them create beneficial social perceptions of them in relationship and work.

In fact, a study published in the journal "Applied Psychology" revealed that women who wear modern clothes and use cosmetics are evaluated that they are healthier and more confident, that they have more social intelligence than those who do not care about their beauty, and have more chances to earn more money.

Evaluation of women in the work environment
People are keen to make connections between a woman's appearance and other attributes, involuntarily and involuntarily. Research indicates that women are being evaluated more severely on average because of things that have nothing to do with their performance.

According to a 2016 study by researchers at the University of Chicago and University of California, women who make the most out of their looks often earn more money.

On the other hand, a study conducted in 2014 showed that men view women who are overly concerned with their appearance as less qualified, which means that there is a fine line between the good and harmful use of cosmetics.

Research has been repeated documenting a positive relationship between appearance and income. But there was a study of sociology professors at the University of California and Chicago to see if appearance returns differ for men and women. This study revealed that the relationship between attractive appearance and income creates a gap close to 20% among women, but when the appearance is taken into account for men, the gap almost disappears.

How much does it cost flawless face?
If a woman does not adhere to the rules of beauty, she will receive a lower salary, and in return she is expected to receive a higher salary to spend on cosmetic products. It is true that men must adhere to some rules of personal hygiene, but they are less complicated, less expensive and less time consuming.

For example, men's haircuts are often cheaper than women, regardless of hair length. Journalist Alexandra Hadow searched the difference between mixed barbershops in London for the difference between the price of shaving for men and women, which was 13% lower for men, and that was evident in a price list that adopted the classification based on gender, not hair length or how difficult it was to style.

Unlike hair, it may cost a woman more attention to her face than we think. The global cosmetic industry - valued at $ 532 billion worldwide, directs her ads to convince women that they need to buy a full range of products to get a chance to be beautiful, lovable, or successful. .

The industry relies on maintaining the expectations of men about the appearance of women so that they can continue to achieve huge profits.