More Women Than Men Say They Are Judged On Body Type

Twice as many women as men say they are discriminated against based on their body type, a new poll from the Directorate of Health shows.

According to the poll, 15% of women and 7.5% of men say they have experienced discrimination of some kind based on their body type – that is, for being considered overweight.

More telling, though, were public perceptions of the overweight. 86% said their believed that a sedentary lifestyle was the major contributing cause of being overweight, while 57% believed that changing one’s body type is a matter of willpower.

Sigrún Daníelsdóttir, a project manager at the Directorate, told Vísir the results show a striking contradiction of beliefs about body type.

“When people were asked whether they felt it ought to be illegal to refuse to hire someone, or to fire a current employee, based on their body type, most answered yes,” she said. “But when people are asked whether they believe a ban on such discrimination should be encoded in law, less than half agreed. That surprised us.”

The poll in its entirety can be read here (.pdf, in Icelandic).