Body Image: Does It Hold You Back On the Job?

Did you happen to see the recent research by George Washington University, which put a price tag on obesity for men and women?

Among the findings were that obese women fared worse than men from a financial standpoint -- one reason why, according to the study's co-author Christine Ferguson, who was interviewed in USA Today, was that studies suggest that larger women earn less than skinnier women (though the same did not hold true for men, she said).

Not surprising to most women, I imagine. The world can seem more forgiving of overweight men than it does of overweight women. Many women can attest to the pressure they feel to not only be smart and professional, but to maintain a certain look while doing it.

While many of us are all too familiar with the body image pressures we feel from outside forces, we can't discount the pressure we put on ourselves. While writing my book, You'd Be So Pretty If...: Teaching Our Daughters to Love Their Bodies -- Even When We Don't Love Our Own, I talked to a number of women about their own perceptions of their bodies -- and how those perceptions sometimes held them back in their personal and professional lives.

In the book, I shared a story from my own life of being asked to speak at a trade show and my memory of spending my mental energy at the podium not focused on the information I was imparting to the crowd, but rather, on how uncomfortable I felt about how I looked that day. Another woman told me that she wouldn't raise her hand and contribute in the grad class she was taking when she was overweight, but found it easy to speak up after she'd lost some weight.

All too often, we allow our self-perception of how we look to hold us back. It's not always simply about weight, either. Women sometimes joke about "bad hair days," but let's be honest -- leaving the house feeling like you're having a bad hair day can affect your mood. Ever walked into a meeting feeling like you were dressed wrong for the occasion? Are you as likely to be as active a contributor to that meeting as you'd be if you were feeling that you looked appropriate?

Body image and self-perception matter deeply when we give them the power to alter our behavior, whether in personal or professional situations. Sure, appearance discrimination absolutely exists out in the world, but we can't ignore the ways that we hold ourselves back, too.