Revy
31st August 2009, 19:29
Evidence of Social Discrimination
Social stigmatization of obesity stems from societal values on body type. This stigmatization can cause weight-based discrimination in employment and is not universally illegal. Society has the biggest influence on discrimination.
“Children as young as 6 describe silhouettes of the obese child as ‘lazy’, ‘dirty’, ‘stupid’, ‘ugly’, ‘cheats’, and ‘lies’….children and adults rate the obese child as the least likable…”(Stunkard, 1985, pg. 1062). Even the obese find themselves disgusting, thinking that the rest of society views them in contempt; this feeling has a high occurrence in women and especially adolescent girls (Stunkard, 1985). These views come from an idea that obesity is something people chose by eating too much and not exercising enough (Food, 1995).
The terms above are not the only names people think of when it comes to the obese. “’incompetent’ and ‘indulgent’” (Crossrow, 2001, pg. 208) are two more. Joseph Bellizzi and Ronald Hasty found that obese people have been described as having a weak will, possessing great amounts of guilt, not worth trust, and blamable (1998). Society often has a low opinion of those who are obese yet a high opinion of the thin. People who are thin are come across as good-looking, vigorous, and doers (Frierson, 1993).
Nicole Crossrow et.al found that people with obesity have a lower likelihood of getting service than thin people. Within the focus group used in the study, there were feelings that salespeople were less likely to help and waitpersons spoke and assumed before thinking. The waitperson would ask if the customer received the light menu or assumed the customer wanted Diet Coke (2001). These characterizations of and actions towards the obese provide a basis for employment discrimination.
Discussion: Employment Discrimination
Employment provides an outlet for social discrimination. There is evidence that obesity causes discrimination in work settings. With different reasons relating to obesity, employers have specific ways to avoid hiring obese people. Job placement and promotion are affected by obesity and gender compounds weight discrimination.
Why do Employers not hire those who are Obese?
Stereotypes can lead employers not to hire an obese person. People who are obese are seen as “less desirable employees who, compared with others, are less competent, less productive, not industrious, disorganized, indecisive, inactive, and less successful..” (Larkin, 1979, pg. 315-316). Employers have three main reasons to not hire an obese person. Employers use store image, insurance costs and future health conditions, and physical limitations as reasons not to hire obese people.
Image
Employers may be able to get away with using appearance as an excuse because it only becomes a problem if combined with an already protected class {4} (Roehling, 1999). The salesperson’s appearance may have an effect on a store’s image. A study done by Dennis Clayson et. al shows three student perceptions of stores with an obese sales associate. First is that the store was not as successful as other stores. Second, students perceived store management as having a lower effectiveness compared to other stores. Third, one obese sale associate causes the other sales associates to be viewed as less than the best of the main company (1996).
Employers concern themselves more with the fact that customers may not buy products from an ugly salesperson than with abilities of the obese applicant (Bellizzi, 1998). Many hiring decisions may be based on whether the applicant fits a representational image or specific mental projection of the job (Larkin, 1979). How the selling environment is perceived may be one of the bigger factors for not hiring obese people (Bellizzi, 1998). Image is a reason that obese people are not wanted as employees.
Insurance Costs and Future Health Conditions
Most often, the public sees the health of obese people as decreased. Many employers foresee costs associated with the obese: insurance premium increase, increase in absences, and having to pay for special accommodations (Roehling, 1999). In fact, many employers do not want to hire obese people because of increasing costs of health care (McEvoy, 1992).
According to Dr. Chernov, healthcare costs have risen an estimated 12-15% per year, which is higher than the inflation rate in the United States. The higher costs of health insurance could cause employers to drop health insurance plans or try to lower health care costs by only hiring people with fewer health risks. This latter reason stands on the logic that the healthier a workforce is, the less health care costs will be. In many cases, employers will stop covering certain things like morbid obesity surgery (2003).
However, employers assume that obese people are or will become less healthy, thus affecting the health care costs. An example from Sharlene A. McEvoy is the case of State Division of Human Rights on Complaint of Catherine McDermott v. Xerox Corporation. The Xerox Corporation refused to employ McDermott because of the higher likelihood she would have future health impairments. Even though there was nothing wrong with McDermott at that moment, she should not be hired because of future health problems (1992).
Yet, one cannot tell who will develop a disease because of obesity and many obese will live a life without contracting obesity-related diseases (Allison, 2001). Dr. Chernov agrees, saying that a person who has a higher risk of getting certain diseases just means that he/she has a greater chance of getting these diseases. It does not mean an obese person will get the diseases or that a thin person will not (2003).
Physical Limitations
According to Sharlene A. McEvoy, physical limitations of an obese person may be the most legitimate reason not to hire an obese person. Physical fitness can be pertinent to jobs connected with strenuous physical activity (1992). There are several examples of these jobs. First, policemen, firemen, and military jobs require physical fitness in order to get through the training regimen required (Chernov, 2003).
Dr. Chernov illustrates the second example. Lance Armstrong’s trainer, Chris Carmichael, has calculated the effect of the Tour de France winner gaining the 20 pounds that Lance Armstrong lost during cancer therapy. If Armstrong gained that weight back, it would take him 3 minutes longer to do one of the Hors Category climbs of the Tour. These climbs are steep, winding, and quite difficult (2003). If Armstrong did gain those 20 pounds back, it would cause his job performance to go down.
A third example is that of the case Green v. Union Pacific Railroad as described by Sharlene McEvoy. Union Pacific had set certain standards of physical fitness for the entire Union Pacific system. Each job category had its own set of medical standards that all applicants must meet. Green applied to transfer into the fireman’s job but was denied because he had a weight problem, blood pressure on the verge of hypertension, and a spine with advance stages of osteoarthritis {5}. The courts agreed with Union Pacific because Green may not be efficient or safe in his present physical condition (2001). Green’s health might prevent him from doing his job well, so it makes sense for Union Pacific not to hire him.
However, employers have to be careful about using physical limitations as an excuse. Mark V. Roehling wrote about two court cases to illustrate this point. In both cases, the obese applicants were examined by employer selected doctors. These doctors based their recommendations of not hiring on obesity typecasts instead of on the applicants’ actual job abilities. Also, many employers have denied overweight applicants jobs because of the perception that the applicants could not do the job, not on the fact that they could not actually do the job (1999). Also, employers may view a person’s mental power and abilities negatively, thus not hire (Bellizzi, 1998). Employers may be able to use physical limitations as a reason, but this reason should be backed up.
Weight, Job Placement, and Promotion
If an overweight person is hired, there is discrimination when it comes to job placement and promotion. The question is, would employers hire an obese person, but place them in a job that required less contact with the general public? The answer: yes. A study found that people who were seen as obese were fit for challenging jobs when it involved sales via the telephone (Bellizzi, 1998). Employers would not place obese employees in a place to interact with the general public because of the belief that customers may not want to do business with ugly obese people (Bellizzi, 1998).
Another study has found that the perception of store success and the store’s image are affected negatively by obese employees (Clayson, 1996). Also, overweight people were rated lower for placement in a job specifically described as sales job but were rated equally for a general position (Roehling, 1999). Face to face contact causes discrimination in the job placement of obese people. An obese person is less likely to receive a promotion recommendation and even had less subordinate acceptance and selfconfidence than other candidates for promotion (Bordieri, 1997).
James G. Frierson describes the case of Gimello vs. Agency Rent-A-Car systems, which illustrates employer-based promotion discrimination. The employee, Gimello, was fired on the excuse that he was not performing his job. To the contrary, Gimello received commendations, raises in pay, a promotion and was evaluated well. The problem came when a new regional director felt that Gimello should not be promoted because he was oversized and overweight. The director also claimed that Gimello’s weight was problematic and that the employee was slobby (1993). Obese employees receive lower evaluations as subordinates and are seen as undesirable coworkers (Roehling, 1999).
Gender and Weight Discrimination
Obesity has become a major force in the hiring process. Yet there is a compounding factor in weightbased discrimination: gender. Gender may cause more discrimination than weight alone, as women have the most difficulty with their weight. Women with an ideal body type have a weight lower than the standard weight for females (Roehling, 1999).
In a focus group studying weight stigmatization, women reported having more negative experiences than did men (Crossrow, 2001). Women tend to fluctuate in weight and have a greater chance for weight change; women also had worse physical functioning according to this weight change (Hemingway, 1998).
Women with a high employment factor, such as being a full-time manager, had a lower possibility for being obese and lower BMI than women who had a lower employment factor (Ball, 2002). A survey found that “16% of employers surveyed said they would not hire obese women under any conditions, and an additional 44% would not hire them under certain circumstances” (Stunkard, 1985, pg. 1063). Gender itself has an effect because employers were less likely to hire women than men (Dugoni, 1994).
Since the 1970’s, there have been claims of weightbased sex discrimination in the airlines (Frierson, 1993). Sharlene McEvoy provides the perfect example of this. In the case Laffey v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., Laffey was a stewardess who claimed that weight restrictions for flight attendants were different for men than women. If a female flight attendant exceeded female weight restrictions, then the attendant would either be suspended or fired. It was decided that the only reason for the airline to discriminate on the basis of weight would be if the women could not perform the job; thus in no other way could the airline discriminate against females on the basis of weight (1992).
A second example also comes from McEvoy. American Airlines also placed weight restrictions against female flight attendants, but their pilots had no weight restrictions. The airlines claimed that the sex-based weight limitations were attributable to airline image and that an overweight flight attendant may not be able to perform the flight safety procedures. Also, the only ones who could be suspended or fired for weighing too much were flight attendants (1992).
Other factors can show that women have a harder time with jobs as overweight people. It has been shown that women who were even slightly obese earned much less than non-obese women but there was no difference between obese and non-obese men (Roehling, 1999). Another study showed that women who were obese or overweight experienced more discrimination than men who were obese (Dugoni, 1994).
read more here (http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/academics/hohonu/writing.php?id=111)
Social stigmatization of obesity stems from societal values on body type. This stigmatization can cause weight-based discrimination in employment and is not universally illegal. Society has the biggest influence on discrimination.
“Children as young as 6 describe silhouettes of the obese child as ‘lazy’, ‘dirty’, ‘stupid’, ‘ugly’, ‘cheats’, and ‘lies’….children and adults rate the obese child as the least likable…”(Stunkard, 1985, pg. 1062). Even the obese find themselves disgusting, thinking that the rest of society views them in contempt; this feeling has a high occurrence in women and especially adolescent girls (Stunkard, 1985). These views come from an idea that obesity is something people chose by eating too much and not exercising enough (Food, 1995).
The terms above are not the only names people think of when it comes to the obese. “’incompetent’ and ‘indulgent’” (Crossrow, 2001, pg. 208) are two more. Joseph Bellizzi and Ronald Hasty found that obese people have been described as having a weak will, possessing great amounts of guilt, not worth trust, and blamable (1998). Society often has a low opinion of those who are obese yet a high opinion of the thin. People who are thin are come across as good-looking, vigorous, and doers (Frierson, 1993).
Nicole Crossrow et.al found that people with obesity have a lower likelihood of getting service than thin people. Within the focus group used in the study, there were feelings that salespeople were less likely to help and waitpersons spoke and assumed before thinking. The waitperson would ask if the customer received the light menu or assumed the customer wanted Diet Coke (2001). These characterizations of and actions towards the obese provide a basis for employment discrimination.
Discussion: Employment Discrimination
Employment provides an outlet for social discrimination. There is evidence that obesity causes discrimination in work settings. With different reasons relating to obesity, employers have specific ways to avoid hiring obese people. Job placement and promotion are affected by obesity and gender compounds weight discrimination.
Why do Employers not hire those who are Obese?
Stereotypes can lead employers not to hire an obese person. People who are obese are seen as “less desirable employees who, compared with others, are less competent, less productive, not industrious, disorganized, indecisive, inactive, and less successful..” (Larkin, 1979, pg. 315-316). Employers have three main reasons to not hire an obese person. Employers use store image, insurance costs and future health conditions, and physical limitations as reasons not to hire obese people.
Image
Employers may be able to get away with using appearance as an excuse because it only becomes a problem if combined with an already protected class {4} (Roehling, 1999). The salesperson’s appearance may have an effect on a store’s image. A study done by Dennis Clayson et. al shows three student perceptions of stores with an obese sales associate. First is that the store was not as successful as other stores. Second, students perceived store management as having a lower effectiveness compared to other stores. Third, one obese sale associate causes the other sales associates to be viewed as less than the best of the main company (1996).
Employers concern themselves more with the fact that customers may not buy products from an ugly salesperson than with abilities of the obese applicant (Bellizzi, 1998). Many hiring decisions may be based on whether the applicant fits a representational image or specific mental projection of the job (Larkin, 1979). How the selling environment is perceived may be one of the bigger factors for not hiring obese people (Bellizzi, 1998). Image is a reason that obese people are not wanted as employees.
Insurance Costs and Future Health Conditions
Most often, the public sees the health of obese people as decreased. Many employers foresee costs associated with the obese: insurance premium increase, increase in absences, and having to pay for special accommodations (Roehling, 1999). In fact, many employers do not want to hire obese people because of increasing costs of health care (McEvoy, 1992).
According to Dr. Chernov, healthcare costs have risen an estimated 12-15% per year, which is higher than the inflation rate in the United States. The higher costs of health insurance could cause employers to drop health insurance plans or try to lower health care costs by only hiring people with fewer health risks. This latter reason stands on the logic that the healthier a workforce is, the less health care costs will be. In many cases, employers will stop covering certain things like morbid obesity surgery (2003).
However, employers assume that obese people are or will become less healthy, thus affecting the health care costs. An example from Sharlene A. McEvoy is the case of State Division of Human Rights on Complaint of Catherine McDermott v. Xerox Corporation. The Xerox Corporation refused to employ McDermott because of the higher likelihood she would have future health impairments. Even though there was nothing wrong with McDermott at that moment, she should not be hired because of future health problems (1992).
Yet, one cannot tell who will develop a disease because of obesity and many obese will live a life without contracting obesity-related diseases (Allison, 2001). Dr. Chernov agrees, saying that a person who has a higher risk of getting certain diseases just means that he/she has a greater chance of getting these diseases. It does not mean an obese person will get the diseases or that a thin person will not (2003).
Physical Limitations
According to Sharlene A. McEvoy, physical limitations of an obese person may be the most legitimate reason not to hire an obese person. Physical fitness can be pertinent to jobs connected with strenuous physical activity (1992). There are several examples of these jobs. First, policemen, firemen, and military jobs require physical fitness in order to get through the training regimen required (Chernov, 2003).
Dr. Chernov illustrates the second example. Lance Armstrong’s trainer, Chris Carmichael, has calculated the effect of the Tour de France winner gaining the 20 pounds that Lance Armstrong lost during cancer therapy. If Armstrong gained that weight back, it would take him 3 minutes longer to do one of the Hors Category climbs of the Tour. These climbs are steep, winding, and quite difficult (2003). If Armstrong did gain those 20 pounds back, it would cause his job performance to go down.
A third example is that of the case Green v. Union Pacific Railroad as described by Sharlene McEvoy. Union Pacific had set certain standards of physical fitness for the entire Union Pacific system. Each job category had its own set of medical standards that all applicants must meet. Green applied to transfer into the fireman’s job but was denied because he had a weight problem, blood pressure on the verge of hypertension, and a spine with advance stages of osteoarthritis {5}. The courts agreed with Union Pacific because Green may not be efficient or safe in his present physical condition (2001). Green’s health might prevent him from doing his job well, so it makes sense for Union Pacific not to hire him.
However, employers have to be careful about using physical limitations as an excuse. Mark V. Roehling wrote about two court cases to illustrate this point. In both cases, the obese applicants were examined by employer selected doctors. These doctors based their recommendations of not hiring on obesity typecasts instead of on the applicants’ actual job abilities. Also, many employers have denied overweight applicants jobs because of the perception that the applicants could not do the job, not on the fact that they could not actually do the job (1999). Also, employers may view a person’s mental power and abilities negatively, thus not hire (Bellizzi, 1998). Employers may be able to use physical limitations as a reason, but this reason should be backed up.
Weight, Job Placement, and Promotion
If an overweight person is hired, there is discrimination when it comes to job placement and promotion. The question is, would employers hire an obese person, but place them in a job that required less contact with the general public? The answer: yes. A study found that people who were seen as obese were fit for challenging jobs when it involved sales via the telephone (Bellizzi, 1998). Employers would not place obese employees in a place to interact with the general public because of the belief that customers may not want to do business with ugly obese people (Bellizzi, 1998).
Another study has found that the perception of store success and the store’s image are affected negatively by obese employees (Clayson, 1996). Also, overweight people were rated lower for placement in a job specifically described as sales job but were rated equally for a general position (Roehling, 1999). Face to face contact causes discrimination in the job placement of obese people. An obese person is less likely to receive a promotion recommendation and even had less subordinate acceptance and selfconfidence than other candidates for promotion (Bordieri, 1997).
James G. Frierson describes the case of Gimello vs. Agency Rent-A-Car systems, which illustrates employer-based promotion discrimination. The employee, Gimello, was fired on the excuse that he was not performing his job. To the contrary, Gimello received commendations, raises in pay, a promotion and was evaluated well. The problem came when a new regional director felt that Gimello should not be promoted because he was oversized and overweight. The director also claimed that Gimello’s weight was problematic and that the employee was slobby (1993). Obese employees receive lower evaluations as subordinates and are seen as undesirable coworkers (Roehling, 1999).
Gender and Weight Discrimination
Obesity has become a major force in the hiring process. Yet there is a compounding factor in weightbased discrimination: gender. Gender may cause more discrimination than weight alone, as women have the most difficulty with their weight. Women with an ideal body type have a weight lower than the standard weight for females (Roehling, 1999).
In a focus group studying weight stigmatization, women reported having more negative experiences than did men (Crossrow, 2001). Women tend to fluctuate in weight and have a greater chance for weight change; women also had worse physical functioning according to this weight change (Hemingway, 1998).
Women with a high employment factor, such as being a full-time manager, had a lower possibility for being obese and lower BMI than women who had a lower employment factor (Ball, 2002). A survey found that “16% of employers surveyed said they would not hire obese women under any conditions, and an additional 44% would not hire them under certain circumstances” (Stunkard, 1985, pg. 1063). Gender itself has an effect because employers were less likely to hire women than men (Dugoni, 1994).
Since the 1970’s, there have been claims of weightbased sex discrimination in the airlines (Frierson, 1993). Sharlene McEvoy provides the perfect example of this. In the case Laffey v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., Laffey was a stewardess who claimed that weight restrictions for flight attendants were different for men than women. If a female flight attendant exceeded female weight restrictions, then the attendant would either be suspended or fired. It was decided that the only reason for the airline to discriminate on the basis of weight would be if the women could not perform the job; thus in no other way could the airline discriminate against females on the basis of weight (1992).
A second example also comes from McEvoy. American Airlines also placed weight restrictions against female flight attendants, but their pilots had no weight restrictions. The airlines claimed that the sex-based weight limitations were attributable to airline image and that an overweight flight attendant may not be able to perform the flight safety procedures. Also, the only ones who could be suspended or fired for weighing too much were flight attendants (1992).
Other factors can show that women have a harder time with jobs as overweight people. It has been shown that women who were even slightly obese earned much less than non-obese women but there was no difference between obese and non-obese men (Roehling, 1999). Another study showed that women who were obese or overweight experienced more discrimination than men who were obese (Dugoni, 1994).
read more here (http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/academics/hohonu/writing.php?id=111)