Most Americans Would Not Hire Hairy Women

A slight majority of U.S. adults, 53 percent, would say ‘no’ when asked if they were likely or unlikely to hire a woman for a public role who had hair on her face. This is the result of a YouGov survey of 2,159 adults at the end of June 2017. Also, many participants were unlikely to hire a woman for a job which included public appearances if she had hairy armpits (36 percent unlikely to hire, 33 percent likely), legs (36 percent unlikely, percent likely) or face (53 percent unlikely to hire, 20 percent likely).

Broken down by gender, the survey indicates that men were generally more critical of female facial appearances: 57 percent stated that they would not hire a woman with facial hair, while 48 percent of women subscribed to this statement. Broken down by age groups, it's baby boomers (55+) who are least open to women sporting facial hair (64 percent), while 39 percent of millennials suggest that they are more likely to hire hairy women if they were the hiring manager for a company.