Height discrimination (also known as heightism) is
prejudice
Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...
or
discrimination
Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, relig ...
against individuals based on
height
Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is).
For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is abou ...
. In principle, it refers to the discriminatory treatment against individuals whose height is not within the normal acceptable range of height in a population. Various studies have shown it to be a cause of
bullying
Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an imba ...
, commonly manifested as unconscious
microaggressions
Microaggression is a term used for commonplace daily verbal, behavioral or environmental slights, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative attitudes toward stigmatized or culturally marginalized group ...
.
Research indicates that the human brain uses height as one factor to measure social status and fitness. Studies have observed that
infants
An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...
as young as 10 months old
unconsciously
The unconscious mind (or the unconscious) consists of the processes in the mind which occur automatically and are not available to introspection and include thought processes, memories, interests, and motivations.
Even though these processes exist ...
associate height with leadership potential, power, strength and intelligence. Both the
cognitive
Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...
and the unconscious heuristic association between height and the mentioned traits has also been found to be stronger when assessing men than women.
Lexicology
The term ''heightism'' was coined by sociologist Saul Feldman in a paper titled "The presentation of shortness in everyday life—height and heightism in American society: Toward a sociology of stature", presented at the meeting of the
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fif ...
in 1971. ''Heightism'' was included in the ''
Second Barnhart Dictionary of New English'' (1971)
and popularized by ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine in a 1971 article on Feldman's paper.
The word is an example of ''Time'' magazine's habit of supplying new words through "unusual use of affixes", although ''Time'' itself objected to the term's inclusion in the 1991 ''Random Webster's College Dictionary'', citing it as an example of the dictionary "straining ... to avoid giving offense, except to good usage" and "
endingauthority to scores of questionable usages, many of them tinged with
politically correct
''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
views."
The term ''heightism'' can also be seen as an example of the increase in popular usage of phrases, particularly those relating to prejudice and discrimination, patterned after that of the word ''
sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...
.''
Height discrimination can also come in the form of pejorative slang terms such as ''manlet'' for short men, or ''lanklet'' for tall people.
Height and social discrimination
Employment wage and social experience discrimination
A 2004 study published in the ''
Journal of Applied Psychology
The ''Journal of Applied Psychology'' is a monthly, peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. The journal emphasizes the publication of original investigations that contribute new knowledge and understandin ...
'' showed that height is strongly related to success for men. It showed that increase in height for men corresponds to increase in income after controlling for other social psychological variables like age and weight.
That same year, a study published in the ''
Journal of Political Economy
The ''Journal of Political Economy'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press. Established by James Laurence Laughlin in 1892, it covers both theoretical and empirical economics. In the past, the ...
'' conjectured a "height premium" and found that "a 1.8-percent increase in wages accompanies every additional inch of height". They also found that men's wages as adults could be linked to their height at age 16. The researchers found that on an average an increase in height by one inch at age 16 increased male adult wages by 2.6 percent. This is equal to increase of approximately $850 in 1996 annual earnings. In other words, the height and corresponding social experiences of taller male adolescent at age 16 would likely translate to higher wage in later adulthood as compared to shorter male adolescent.
Recent findings suggest that height discrimination occurs most often against racial minorities. A 2007 study published in the ''
Journal of Vocational Behavior
The ''Journal of Vocational Behavior'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering career development. It was established in 1971 and is published by Elsevier. The editor-in-chief is Nadya A. Fouad (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee). A ...
'' found that African-Americans reported higher weight and height related discrimination. This discrimination was even higher in female employees.
In 2017, attorney and author Tanya Osensky published ''Shortchanged: Height Discrimination and Strategies for Social Change''. The book examines the cultural, medical, and occupational issues that short people face, which are often deemed unimportant and disregarded. Osensky challenges heightism by disclosing some beneficial aspects of shortness and suggesting avenues of activism and change.
In business
Some jobs require a minimum height. For example, US Military pilots have to be tall with a sitting height of .
Other jobs require a maximum height or to be between a certain height range, such as flight attendant. These exceptions noted, in the great majority of cases a person's height would not seem to have an effect on how well they are able to perform their job. Nevertheless, studies have shown that short people are paid less than taller people, with disparities similar in magnitude to the race and gender gaps.
Surveys have uncovered that less than 3% of
CEOs
Kea ( el, Κέα), also known as Tzia ( el, Τζια) and in antiquity Keos ( el, Κέως, la, Ceos), is a Greek island in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Kea is part of the Kea-Kythnos regional unit.
Geography
It is the island o ...
were below 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) in height. 90% of CEOs are of above average height.
["Short Guys Finish Last" The world's most enduring form of discrimination. The Economist, 23 December 1995](_blank)
Perceived attractiveness
It is popularly believed that height is a
revealed preference
Revealed preference theory, pioneered by economist Paul Anthony Samuelson in 1938, is a method of analyzing choices made by individuals, mostly used for comparing the influence of policies on consumer behavior. Revealed preference models assume t ...
of
physical attraction
Physical attractiveness is the degree to which a person's physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. The term often implies sexual attractiveness or desirability, but can also be distinct from either. There are many f ...
.
Initial studies indicated that taller men are more likely to be married and to have more children, except in societies with severe sex imbalances caused by war.
[Miami University of Ohio: “Don’t Want No Short, Short Man: The Study Of Height, Power, and Mate Selection”](_blank)
However, more recent research has drawn this theory into question, finding no correlation between height and offspring count, although the sample was 200 and consisted only of delinquent youth.
[.] Moreover, research on leg length and
leg-to-body ratio
While there is significant variation in anatomical proportions between people, certain body proportions have become canonical in figurative art. The study of body proportions, as part of the study of artistic anatomy, explores the relation of t ...
conflicts with the notion that there is a distinct preference for taller mates. A 2008 study found that both extremes, tall and short, reduced attractiveness, and a 2006 study found that a higher leg-to-body ratio in both genders increased aesthetic appeal.
["Adaptive Preferences for Leg Length in a Potential Partner"](_blank)
["The leg-to-body ratio as a human aesthetic criterion"](_blank)
At the roughest approximation the limb ratio findings are consistent with data relating
height to human health. Conversely, research by
Dan Ariely
Dan Ariely ( he, דן אריאלי; born April 29, 1967) is an Israeli-American professor and author. He serves as a James B. Duke Professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. Ariely is the founder of the research instit ...
found that American women exhibit a marked preference for dating taller men, and that for shorter men to be judged attractive by women, they must earn substantially more money than taller men.
A 2012 study found that both men and women are willing to excuse height differences by using a trade-off approach. Men may compensate 1.3 BMI units with a 1 percent higher wage than their wife. Women may compensate 2 BMI units with an additional year of higher education.
Furthermore, a 2015 study found that both men and women receive economic benefits from having a tall spouse.
Nonetheless, on a cultural level in
post-industrial society
In sociology, the post-industrial society is the stage of society's development when the service sector generates more wealth than the manufacturing sector of the economy.
The term was originated by Alain Touraine and is closely related to si ...
, a sociological relationship between height and perceived attractiveness exists. For instance, in a 2019 survey performed by
Ipsos
Ipsos Group S.A. () (an acronym of ) is a multinational market research and consulting firm with headquarters in Paris, France. The company was founded in 1975 by Didier Truchot, Chairman of the company, and has been publicly traded on the P ...
in
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
with over 500 respondents, the perfect height for men for 53% of participants was between 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) to 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in), while regarding female ideal height, 60% of respondents stated that it should be between 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) and 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in), indicating a predominant preference for average to moderately tall height in both sexes. This cultural characteristic of conferring relevance to height as an indicator of attractiveness, while applicable to the modernized world, is not a transcendental human quality.
["How universal are human mate choices? Size doesn’t matter when Hadza foragers are choosing a mate"](_blank)
A study produced by the Universities of Groningen and Valencia, found that the taller a man was, the less anxious he felt about attractive, physically dominant, and socially powerful rivals.
In the media
In 1987 the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' imagined a totalitarian society in which people under the height of were systematically discriminated against. The program attracted considerable criticism and complaints which accused the writers of reinforcing prejudice and of using offensive terms; the writers responded that their intention had been to show all prejudice was stupid and that height was chosen randomly.
'', a documentary aired in 2008, demonstrated the obstacles and bigotry that short statured men face every day in life, love and work.
, that prohibits height discrimination.
which would add Massachusetts to the list.
.
prohibits discrimination based on personal appearance.
, Canada, prohibits height discrimination under the human rights code.
, prohibits discrimination based on physical features under the Equal Opportunity Act of 1995.
Examples of successful legal battles pursued against height discrimination in the workplace include a 2002 case involving highly qualified applicants being turned down for jobs at a bank because they were considered too short;
a 2005 Swedish case involving an unfair height requirement for employment implemented by
informal practice not to consider women who applied for jobs unless they were at least tall.
are becoming less common. In 2022 the Supreme Court of Spain ruled that height requirements for joining the National Police Corps must take into account the average height for each sex in the Spanish population, disallowing a previous height rule for women.
'' found a strong inverse association between height and suicide in Swedish men. This may signify the importance of childhood exposure in the
of adult mental disorder or reflect stigmatization or discrimination encountered by short men in their adult lives. A record linkage study of the birth, conscription, mortality, family, and census register data of 1,299,177 Swedish men followed from age 18 to a maximum of age 49 was performed and it was found that a 5-cm (2-inch) increase in height was associated with a 9% decrease in suicide risk.