A new study reveals that women who wear makeup to work get paid more

25 June 2019

By Fashion Quarterly

Whether or not you wear makeup to work shouldn’t determine how much you get paid, but research says otherwise.

Getting paid the same as your male counterpart at work is hard enough, but new research shows that there are also pay discrepancies between women who wear makeup and those who don’t.

A study of over 14,000 women in the workplace found that ‘well-groomed’ women earned more than those who chose not to wear makeup to work.

Notably, the grooming factor didn’t matter when it came to male employees – they can turn up however they want (within reason) and still get paid the same.

Aside from dress codes and basic hygiene (clean teeth, fragrant underarms and washed clothes) should how you show up to work really matter? The trouble is that values will vary based on where you work, in some offices trainers and a slick of Vaseline is the norm, in other places it’s heels and bright red lipstick.

Of course, different employers have different value systems – some people see a full face of makeup (including contouring and two tones of eye shadow) as the basic standard, others would see this as unprofessional – shouldn’t you be spending time on getting to work and preparing for the day instead of making yourself up?

Maybe this is a case of the wrong interpretation of the data – could it be that those who get paid more tend to wear makeup to work? They can afford to buy the brands they love, they aren’t stressed about paying their rent and feeding themselves so they can spend time on other things, and they get paid enough that they feel valued by the company they work for – so want to make an effort by wearing makeup to that workplace.

Either way, whether or not you wear makeup to work shouldn’t determine how much you get paid – that should be based solely on your ability to do the job.