Weight Discrimination Against Females of Different Races

Abstract

With increased obesity rates, more individuals are likely to experience weight-related employment discrimination.In this 2 (weight) by 3 (race) design, overweight female job applicants received lower hiring and salary recommendations than normal weight females. There were no significant race differences in hiring and salary recommendations across Black, Hispanic, and White female job applicants in hiring and salary recommendations.Explicit and implicit measures of weight bias were modestly correlated. Only explicit weight bias predicted hiring recommendations. Results showed that managers' explicit weight biases may impact their hiring recommendations and suggest that qualified, overweight individuals may be passed over in the hiring process.