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A woman’s appearance has always meant a lot to her, but these days it is more significant than ever, especially in the workplace. According to research professor Kaisa Kauppinen speaking at an international conference on women’s studies at the Tieteiden talo (House of Sciences), slimness is important for a woman’s salary and career development higher up the professional ladder.

“For managers, experts and public officials, the monthly salaries for slim women were about 20 percent higher than for overweight women in the same professional categories. No such tendency existed at lower-ranking professional levels,” says Kauppinen.

The material for an article by Professor Kauppinen and Erkko Anttila entitled Does weight matter?- slim, fat and women of normal weight in a changing work scene (available in Finnish) is based on follow-up research carried out by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in 1997 and 2003.

The results give reason to ask whether women are expected to present a slim female image of themselves in order to achieve success and be considered a specialist in their field. Professor Kauppinen thinks that it is important that the acceptance of differences also in people’s appearance should be used as a resource that could increase creativity in the workplace . “Now it really looks as if the constantly increasing visualisation and aestheticisation in the workplace are here to stay.”

Other research studies confirm the same thing. According to a thesis written by Maarit Leinola on the level of satisfaction of Finnish women with their appearance, as much as 85 percent of respondents were united in the contention that, in our culture, not only young women are idolised but also slim ones.

The idolisation of slimness is a far more complex question than just one of discrimination. It is, however, very much a gender-related matter: for men, the same appearance requirements linking body-mass index and monthly income do not hold true – at least, not yet.

“ Amongst young people, appearance is really starting to be a matter of increasing significance. According to the most recent youth barometer , appearance is equally important for both boys and girls between the ages of 15 and 19,” says Professor Kauppinen.

Text: Kai Maksimainen
Picture: Veikko Somerpuro
www.helsinki.fi/digitalcommunications

Translation: Valtasana Oy