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Beauty Premium: Ethiopian Context 

My good friend Weyni Tesfai recently shared her personal experience on her YouTube channel, discussing how the dark legacy of slavery has left a lasting fingerprint on perceptions of skin tone and beauty. She spoke about how her children are perceived in Ethiopia and mentioned some of the unconscious questions she receives from people in Addis Ababa, such as why her children have curly hair.

         I watched her YouTube channel and reflected on how our definitions of beauty can lead to stereotyping individuals based on physical appearance. Beyond social interactions, beauty can have economic implications, serving as one reason for discrimination against less conventionally attractive people in employment or earnings.

Discrimination occurs when one group of workers, with the same education, experience, and other job-relevant characteristics, receives inferior treatment compared to another group.

I aim to reflect on an economic concept called the "beauty premium." This refers to the phenomenon where beautiful or physically attractive workers have a better chance of employment and earn higher wages than those considered less physically attractive. Extensive studies in Western countries show that physically attractive people earn higher wages even in occupations where appearance does not seem relevant to job performance.

Mainstream economists argue that attractive individuals tend to have higher confidence levels, which enhances their interactions with employers and, in turn, increases their earnings. However, there is no clear causal evidence that physical attractiveness directly builds confidence. In fact, preferential treatment itself can help foster greater confidence in the workplace and society.

What Is "Beauty" or "Physical Attractiveness"?

While there is no universal conceptual definition of beauty, there is usually a cultural consensus at any given time about what is considered attractive. Within a society, individuals often share similar perceptions of beauty. Most economic research measures beauty using facial photographs of individuals. In experiments, researchers often distribute frontal facial photographs to employers or students, who rate the attractiveness on a scale (e.g., 0 to 5 or 0 to 10, with the highest number indicating more beauty).

To put this into perspective: if a white CEO employer is presented with facial photographs of Black women with natural or textured hairstyles alongside white women with straightened hairstyles, the latter group would, on average, receive a higher beauty rating. In the U.S., race-based hair discrimination, particularly against Black women, is well-documented in the workplace. Thus, measuring beauty or attractiveness not only introduces subjective biases but also reveals that beauty has no relationship with job performance.

Economic Theories Explaining the Beauty

 The beauty premium describes a phenomenon where workers experience better labor market outcomes solely because of their physical appearance. From an economic standpoint, two types of discrimination theories explain why less attractive individuals may have lower employment opportunities and earnings:

1. Taste-Based Discrimination

In 1957, economist Gary Becker introduced the theory of taste-based discrimination in the labor market. He argued that some employers have a distaste for working with certain groups, whether based on race, gender, or, in this case, physical attractiveness, and therefore prefer to hire more attractive individuals. As a result, less attractive individuals are less likely to receive callbacks for job interviews. Even when hired, they may have to accept lower wages despite having the same productivity level as their attractive counterparts. This dynamic contributes to wage inequality based on appearance. Substantial empirical evidence supports the existence of employer discrimination against less attractive individuals.

2. Statistical Discrimination

Statistical discrimination occurs when employers use group averages or stereotypes to make judgments about an individual’s abilities, rather than evaluating the person based on their own qualifications or performance. Measuring and identifying statistical discrimination on employment outcomes is not an easy task. Statistical discrimination is not only hard to detect but also its dangerous form of discrimination. Because it can persist even if employers are not intentionally biased.

 Employers rely on perceived correlations between certain group characteristics and productivity. In the context of beauty, this means that an employer might assume that more attractive people are more confident, competent, or better at interacting with customers, even if there is no evidence that an attractive individual has that personality.

For example, if employers believe that attractive individuals tend to have better social skills, they may favor hiring them for customer-facing roles, even if a less attractive candidate has better experience or qualifications. This happens not because the employer personally dislikes the less attractive individual, but because they believe, based on broader social stereotypes, that beauty is linked to better job performance.

In the context of Ethiopia, where beauty standards are heavily influenced by factors such as skin tone, facial features, and hair texture, statistical discrimination could mean that lighter-skinned individuals or those with more "Europeanized" features might be assumed to be more competent or trustworthy, even without evidence. This can affect hiring decisions, promotions, and even social treatment.

Like many other countries in the world, preferential treatment based on ethnicity, language, dialect, religion, and physical attractiveness is not uncommon in Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s rich history and diverse ethnic composition create a unique landscape for beauty standards. In a culturally and ethnically diverse society, it is difficult to have a standard definition of beauty. Additionally, in rural areas, where media exposure is lower, the standards of beauty often differ from those in urban place of residence.

Despite the diversity, there is a generally socially accepted notion of beauty: for instance, lighter-skinned women with straight noses are often considered more beautiful. In some cases, the dowry price is higher for brides considered beautiful, reflecting beauty’s economic value in the marriage market.

In the past decade, the media has attempted to portray beauty with a wider range of skin tones, leveraging its power to influence societal standards. However, when it comes to representing women’s beauty, the media often promotes long and straightened hair, while natural, curly hair remains underrepresented. Darker skin with short, natural hair should be represented in the media to promote the representation of diverse beauty

It should be noted that favoring lighter-skinned individuals has a long history in Africa, its roots being found in European colonialism. European colonizers fostered an implicit belief that lighter skin was the standard of beauty and was often associated with power, wealth, and social status. The European beauty standard continues to shape societal perceptions towards beauty in Africa and beyond. One prominent example can be the growing number of young women in Africa and Asia continuing to bleach their skin. One may ask why a lighter skin tone is preferred in Ethiopia. Europeans never colonized Ethiopia, but they have deeply influenced the standard of beauty or physical attractiveness, like other countries in Africa.

Nevertheless, the beauty premium is not solely about lighter skin; it also encompasses overall physical attractiveness. Physical attractiveness is closely linked to a person’s socioeconomic background. Factors such as clothing and general appearance, which influence how individuals present themselves to potential employers, are shaped by both culture and economic status, even within the same racial group. For example, a recent university graduate may struggle to meet an employer’s standards of physical attractiveness simply because they cannot afford the professional attire expected to make a strong impression.

Overall, the economic advantages that physically attractive individuals are well-documented in academic literature from economically advanced countries. However, due to limited resources and a lack of data, this issue has been largely overlooked in both academic and public discourse in the Global South, including in Ethiopia. Furthermore, the beauty premium reflects a form of discrimination that persists in the workplace and significantly contributes to employment and wage inequalities among workers with equivalent levels of human capital.

References

Becker, G. S. (2010). The economics of discrimination. University of Chicago press.

Doorley, K., & Sierminska, E. (2015). Myth or fact? The beauty premium across the wage distribution in Germany. Economics Letters, 129, 29-34.

Mobius, M. M., & Rosenblat, T. S. (2006). Why beauty matters. American Economic Review, 96(1), 222-235.

Trusty, J., Ward, D. A., Good-Perry Ward, M., & He, M. (2023). Hair bias in the workplace: A critical human resource development perspective. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 25(1), 5-26.

Written: May 18, 2025