Taller men, slimmer women earn better than shorter, weightier counterparts: study
10 Mar 2016
A new study has revealed that height among men and BMI among women as being factors in earnings. In the study conducted in the UK, the research team took genetic data as a basis for their findings.
On the basis of a person's genetic predisposition for height and weight, researchers concluded that the men who had more genetic variants that would keep them short-heighted, had higher chances to earn less money.
Women having more genetic variants that could lead them to have a higher body mass index, earned less salary compared to women with lower BMI.
In the study, the researchers considered genetic data of 119,669 women and men of white UK ancestry, aged between 37 and 73.
The men with genes that would give them good height had around £2,940 higher annual household income.
In the case of women, income difference was noticed with their weight, with women having genes that would make them have a higher BMI having annual household incomes that were around £1,890 less. However, this was not the case with men.
According to the researchers, they had found common challenges that could be faced by short-height and heavier people to earn less, irrespective of their gender.
"There is something about being fatter or being shorter in itself that leads to poor outcomes," said lead researcher Timothy Frayling, a professor of human genetics at the University of Exeter in England, cbsnews.com reported.
Shorter men were likely to earn $2,100 less annually than men three inches taller, according to the researchers. The study found that in women, 14 extra pounds was linked to the same $2,100 loss in earnings each year.
According to Frayling, established social biases could account for the lower incomes. Falling short of cultural expectations might lead these individuals to poor self-image or depression, which could affect how well they did in life.
They also might be victims of employer discrimination in a body-conscious world, the study authors suggested. The actual connection was not clear.
