Apparently Cleavage Equals Job Interviews, Says Science

But don’t do it. Just don’t. It definitely should not be a thing.

It’s no secret that sometimes the world can be an unfair and sexist place. And while we’ve come a long way toward closing in on gender inequality, unfortunately studies, like one recently carried out by French researchers that links cleavage and increased job interviews, prove that the gap is still all too real.

The study found that women who applied for jobs and included a photo of themselves in revealing clothing in their application were 19 more times more likely to secure an interview.

The French study — which demonstrated we’re apparently stuck in the Stone Age — featured two similar-looking women with nearly identical experience. They applied for 100 sales and accounting roles wearing conservative clothing, and another 100 roles wearing a low-cut outfit.

Out of the 200 sales roles applied for accompanied by the revealing outfit, 62 more interview offers were received.

The accounting applications were even worse, with applications linked to the low-cut outfit receiving 68 more interview offers.

Sevag Kertechian, PhD, the researcher who carried out the study at Paris–Sorbonne University, said, “Our results showed interesting trends as low-cut dresses significantly influenced the choice of the recruiters, even for accounting positions.

“Regardless of the job, whether customer-facing saleswoman or office-based accountant, the candidate with the low-cut clothing received more positive answers.

“The results were quite shocking and negative but not necessarily surprising — they show we need to conduct more research.”

Thankfully, some good is actually coming out of this highly disturbing study. The results are being discussed at the Appearance Matters Conferences, the world’s largest event on body image and disfigurement, which begins today. The conference addresses issues like weight-loss surgery, eating disorders, and ultra-thin dolls.

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