Weighing in on wages: Pounds equal dollars
Thanks to writers and speakers like Aubrey Gordon (blogger, "Your Fat Friend" and author of "What We Talk About When We Talk About Fat"), I have learned more about about the prevalence of harassment, shaming and discrimination fat persons face, especially women.
I thought that the misogynistic attitude that a woman's physical attributes should conform to another's preference had lost ground, despite outliers like Jordon Peterson.
At Christmas, Santa left a lump of coal in my stocking via The Economist report, "The economics of thinness". The conclusion: "It is economically rational for ambitious women to try as hard as possible to be thin."
I thought, Huh, only 'ambitious women'? If the data are representative of all women in the workforce in the countries in the report, why not say, "There is a paycheque Fat Deduction for women employees"?
The authors summarize the bleak findings:
"Myriad studies find that overweight or obese women are paid less than their thinner peers while there is little difference in wages between obese men and men in the medically defined “normal” range. There are exceptions... but research in America, Britain, Canada and Denmark suggests that overweight women do have lower salaries. The penalty for an obese woman is significant, costing her about 10% of her income."
Though the article begins with a cameo from Marielle Galliano, author of "French Women Don't Get Fat", apparently some do; here is the graph of weight by income from France:
The report debunks some theories about why richer people, especially women, are thinner than poorer ones and, rather poignantly for The Economist, acknowledges the struggle to control weight.
One word hit me between the eyes: stigma. I had just listened to a podcast interview with Aubrey Gordon. She was most eloquent when she spoke of strangers upbraiding her in grocery stores for her cart's content or suggesting diets, but Gordon wants change, not sympathy.
2. Controlling for other factors, fat women's starting salaries are lower and the wage differential continues throughout their careers. They receive fewer raises and promotions. (To see the extent of wage discrimination attributed to other factors, here's a graphic from the U.S.'s National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance.)
3. Regarding "implicit bias", we've made some progress in other areas, but not this. They quote the conclusion of a test published by Harvard: "... in general, the findings are trending in a positive direction—discrimination on the basis of race and sex has fallen over the last decade. Negative associations of gay people have fallen by a third. Weight is the exception—attitudes towards heavy individuals have become substantially more negative." (Gordon, among other writers, acknowledges the link between fat bias and racism.)
I have seen size discrimination in many business sectors, especially during the selection process. In Canada, neither weight nor appearance is a prohibited ground for discrimination at this time. In the US, only Michigan has an anti-weight discrimination law—but even without the force of law, organizations could address the wage discrepancy.
What conversations need to happen with our children—not just females—and friends regarding body size? And, with ourselves?
My attitude adjustment
I earned this Lifetime Member Weight Watchers card around 1989, when I lost over 35 lbs. of post-pregnancy weight. I was unaware of the paycheque Fat Deduction, but had another economic indicator in mind: the sunk cost for business attire that no longer fit. When that shirt button popped mid-meeting, I beetled to WW after work and signed on.
I thought, Lose the weight and I'll get my old self back! This was short sighted; once you have children you're changed for life in far more significant ways than your figure. After five or six months of counting points, I could wear the Armani suit again. I basked in compliments from my boss and the other women at work. But every day, I would commute home to the real bosses, the two tiny, snuggly tyrants I had borne.
My belief then was not that a fat woman had so much "let herself go" as that she had her work cut out for her. Not until I met several talented, confident and unapologetic large-bodied colleagues did I encounter an entirely different attitude, and I thank them to this day. Like Aubrey Gordon, they had no intention of altering their size.
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| Aubrey Gordon |
I wonder, if I still carried that weight today and saw those income stats, would I mount a campaign, my inner rational accountant overcoming the norm-defying activist?
I think I'd conform—that card is still in my wallet, after all, even though I admire the grace and equanimity displayed by leaders of the size-acceptance community. They fight learned bias with facts, but also with wit. Aubrey Gordon speaks of humour as an educational tactic, and a way to defuse insensitive comments.
I thought of Kris, a colleague during that year of my dieting and striving. She sat at the next cube, and we bonded over our shared fondness for leather skirts and gift-with-purchase makeup promotions. She said nothing about my weight loss, but I felt self-conscious because she was far heavier than I had been.
When a colleague from another office greeted her with "Hey, big girl!", I replied, "We haven't been girls for awhile!" He said, "Well, what do you want me to call you?"
Kris didn't miss a beat, and responded, "Divine Goddesses."
Comments
Why is it so difficult for people to understand that there can be multiple possible causes for obesity, sometimes in the same person?
I've been overweight since around age eighteen. The economic cost has probably been slight because I spent my working life with nonprofits and issue-related work. I was also lucky to have experienced very little of the public humiliation, possibly because I tend to give off an unapproachable air and have an RBF.
Still, I've lived with many of the negative effects of obesity all my life. Only recently one of the newest drugs, meant for diabetes but effective in treating other metabolic disorders, allowed me to lose (with very unpleasant side effects) fifty pounds. So much for the "just eat less and go for a walk" crowd.
I suppose I'll never be thin, but now I can shop straight size clothes, not fear restaurant booths or turnstiles. My feet don't hurt as much after walking. On the downside, sagging skin isn't going to fix itself at my age and I definitely no longer look the ten years younger I did before.
Beyond the salary differences, there are other "fat taxes." Plus size clothes cost more with fewer choices. The drug I referred to can cost over $1,000 a month if your insurance won't cover it. I don't believe any insurance company will cover cosmetic surgery to deal with loose skin, even when it's significant enough to cause physical impediment. If you can afford the surgery, can you afford the lengthy recovery time and pain? Travel is more difficult. Inevitably I'd be seated next to a six foot two hundred pound man on a plane. He was a big guy and I was the fat one taking too much space. Extra weight does cause health problems simply as a matter of physics and a large body requires more effort in so many ways. Overweight people deal with the whole very big problem of getting appropriate medical care.
Society currently values thinness. And youth. Those of us with neither do what we can and go about our lives and try to make some noise when we can.
I did a mini-sample for Talbot's Everyday Relaxed Jeans: same price for Misses and Plus sizes. Also same price for J. Crew's "Garcon" shirt. Eileen Fisher stretch jersey knit a-line skirt: same price for sizes from XXS to 3X. That is a tiny sample, but a bit of good news. When I go to plus boutiques with Rachel, what I notice is how few good fabrics are used, unless it is high end, e.g. Eileen Fisher or Marina Rinaldi.
The comments are often made behind the target's back, which does not directly humiliate the target, but reinforces the attitude. That pay differential comes from a set of ingrained beliefs.
I pay no attention to Jordan Peterson, he's an idiot. I had never heard of Yumi Nu until right now and no matter what anyone thinks, she is objectively beautiful and deserves a place on the cover of Sports Illustrated if that what she wants, even though I strongly object to the commodification of women and their bodies in this way.
Where is the line between an image we call 'art' (e.g., a photograph for sale) and a magazine cover? I have written about how much I like the size acceptance/body positivity movement, and at the same time have made points similar to gerlinde's about the health outcomes of carrying high amounts of body weight into and past mid-life.
Comments like Gordon has had are only part of the fat shaming. I went to a posh Toronto spa with a friend who could not remotely fit into the robes they gave us, and felt awful. They apologized but offered nothing. I asked for two sheets (which they used on massage tables), one for each of us, and told her we were "going Roman". I could not believe they would not think of this.
gerlinde: Canada's universal health insurance will pay for some surgeries to reduce excess skin; the covered procedures vary by province and the matter must be deemed a "medical necessity", such as skin breakdown or infection. Someone I know who lost over 100 lbs. had it done. But whether it's paid for by insurance or not, there are risks. The commonly-used term "tummy tuck" minimizes what is major surgery.
I think it's our society that makes women feel badly about their bodies, extreme slimness is celebrated everywhere, as is youth. Certainly there's a token amount of grey haired and larger sized models, but generally it's all pretty standard - young and slender, flat stomached. There have been times when Rubenesque women have been celebrated, see Restoration paintings, and even during the war and in the 50s, women were portrayed in a realistic size. It's really only since the 60s (I think starting with Twiggy) that extreme slenderness became the norm. I have no problem with women being portrayed in art. It's the cover of a men's magazine I object to.
Re the spa - you shake your head at this kind of lack of consideration. Customer service is obviously only a rumour there.
However some good has come our of your topic today. I was just having coffee with friends and a larger sized woman was in the café with a friend. I saw her and, having read Gordon's articles and Gerlinde's comments above, had different thoughts than I might have. So, well done you.
Sadly, it comes as no surprise to me to learn about this weight/income differential for women. In a similar vein, studies done in the past have shown that professional women who wear makeup at work earn significantly more than those who do not.
Perhaps it's still because men in positions of authority only hire or promote those women whom they regard as 'conventionally' attractive and this equates to slim. But women are also complicit in this - and it's not confined to the West.
As recently as 2016, in Egypt (a country that has tended to be much more relaxed about what constitutes an attractive female body size and shape) a whole slew of popular female tv presenters were suspended by their employer and told to lose weight if they wanted to keep their jobs. This unhelpful edict was the idea of their newly-appointed boss, a woman. Their male counterparts were not given any such instruction...
We never know what factors have made someone very over- or under-weight and I've known women on both ends of that scale who have been angered or upset by unsolicited comments from strangers as well as from people they know. It seems strange that, in this day and age, we apparently still need reminders that it's very poor form to make personal remarks.
Once, however, a close friend who was an HR VP for a global hotel corporation was on a panel to hire a General Manager for a 5-star property. An executive on the panel rejected a female candidate by saying, "Well, she's fat, and we can't have that image." She got up, went to an adjoining room, removed a mirror from the wall, returned to the meeting and held it in front of him.