Women Who Wear Heavy Makeup Are Not Seen As Good Leaders

A new study suggests women who wear heavy makeup are perceived as less of a leader in the workforce, according to Harper’s Bazzar.

Cue the eye roll, please.

The study was conducted at Abertay University in Dundee, Scotland, by Dr. Christopher Watkins of Abertay’s Division of Psychology.

Images of the same women were shown to 186 male and female participants. The images varied from them having a bare or natural looking complexion to being shown with makeup suitable for a night out.

Both men and women choose the photos of the subjects with bare faces as more of a leader over the images of them with heavier makeup on.

The study concluded that wearing heavier makeup is seen as a negative quality when choosing women to be in a position of leadership, and makeup does not enhance a woman’s perceived dominance in the workplace.

However, a 2016 Harvard study found women who wear makeup were seen as more competent for their job, and more likely to receive a promotion, according to Marie Claire.

Here’s the question we should be asking.

Why are researchers spending actual time and money on studying how a woman is perceived if she wears makeup? Is this really that big of an issue to where scholars are studying why women wear makeup and what society thinks of it?

How about this, women don’t care what others think when it comes to their decision about wearing makeup or not.

If someone is going to judge a woman based on their makeup and not their skills or work performance than this world has more issues than we all initially thought.

Clearly there is more work that needs to be done when it comes to viewing women as more than a specifically pretty face, because now how done-up your face is can negatively impact how you’re seen as a professional.

I can understand an employer not wanting their employees to come to work looking like they just got off the bus from the Annual Clown Convention, but a female employee having on some darker eyeshadow shouldn’t seal her fate as an unworthy leader.

The amazing thing is it’s women who are out marching for their equal rights, women who are pushing forward social change and justice.

But hey, apparently we aren’t leading anything, right?