Obese women paid less than their trimmer counterparts, studies suggest

Women are not only losing the battle of the bulge, their earning potential is seemingly affected if they are overweight.

This is according to René Schickerling, women’s health category manager for Pharma Dynamics, who was building on international literature ahead of World Obesity Day on Saturday. 

“If younger women don’t start trimming down, they could become the first generation in the country’s history to live shorter lives than their mothers. It’s imperative we change the course of the obesity epidemic.

“South Africa is one of the countries with the highest obesity prevalence, with a projected increase [of] 47.7% in females and 23.3% in males by 2025.” 

Schickerling added that carrying excess weight has many downfalls, especially for women. 

“It increases their risk of breast, endometrial, gallbladder, oesophageal and renal cancer. Their reproductive health also suffers, often leading to miscarriage, higher maternal and neonatal mortality rates, and congenital malformations. Depression and anxiety are also linked to obesity. 

“Aside from ill health, being overweight also affects a woman’s earning potential,” she said.

According to studies by economists globally, obese women get paid less than their trimmer counterparts.

“Interestingly, this doesn’t seem to affect men in the same way. There was little difference in salaries between men, regardless of their weight. Researchers found that a 30kg increase in a woman’s weight is associated with a 9% drop in salary, a penalty equivalent of about three years of work experience,” Schickerling said.

According to Korean research paper “Impact of Obesity on Employment and Wages among Young Adults: Observational Study with Panel Data”, obese and overweight men are 1.46 times more likely to be placed in professional jobs and earn 13.9% more monthly than their normal-weight counterparts.

“However, obese and overweight women were 0.33 times less likely to have service jobs, earned 9% lower monthly and were half as likely to have jobs with bonuses than that of their normal-weight counterparts,” the research found.

Another study from Cornell University in the US found heavier black men tend to earn more, though this appears to be due to underweight black men earning less than healthy-weight black men.

“Among black men, weight is positively correlated with education and intelligence-test scores, a pattern opposite to that for most other groups.

“In contrast, weight appears to lower the wages of white females.

“Weight lowers wages, for example, by lowering production or because of workplace discrimination. Another aspect was that low wages caused obesity,” found the “Impact of Obesity on Wages” research by the university's John Cawley.

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