'They can't be too fat'

In China, it is common for job ads to note that female applicants must be pretty and of a certain height.

So it didn’t cause a lot of stir when a Beijing Summer Olympics official said last month that the organizing committee is looking for pretty, tall women to present medals to winners at the Games.

“We have certain requirements for their height, since they are to present the medals to our athletes,” said Zhao Dongming, director of the Cultural Activities Department at Beijing's Organizing Committee for the Games. “They need to be of a height between 1.68 (5-foot-6) and 1.78 meters (5-foot-10). That's above average."

“Generally speaking, they can't be too fat,” Zhao added. “Their figure should be good. They shouldn't be too heavy.”

Finalists have to be university students between 18 and 25 years old.

Many Chinese would take for granted that the nation should put its best face forward for the Olympics. But overseas, such remarks stirred protest.

Brad Adams, executive director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, the New York-based advocacy group, just whipped off a letter to Zhao demanding that he broaden his search for medals presenters.

“Gender, age, and appearance requirements arbitrarily exclude individuals from jobs for which they are professionally qualified and constitutes discrimination. Human Rights Watch is aware that similar requirements are often included in job advertisements in China, yet such discrimination relies on gender-based stereotypes and limits women and men's equal access to employment, including prestigious jobs such as presenting awards at the Olympics.   

“As a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, China is obliged to eliminate all forms of discrimination in economic, social, cultural spheres and prevent discriminatory practices in both the public and the private sectors.”

Adams called on Zhao and the Beijing Olympic Committee to “publicly condemn discrimination rather than reinforce harmful stereotypes and unfair hiring practices.”

Somehow I’m not sure the letter will make much difference.

Comments

[A B]

Brad Adams is typical of the imperialist that China need to have the stature and confidence to stand up and tell them to go take a hike.

The reality is the most extreme forms of this prejudice is practiced in the United States, where it is so commonplace that cosmetic surgery is commonplace to reduce discrimination on the basis of looks / body shape / etc.

While this kind of discrimination is often not spoke of in public, it is generally practiced with zero complaints from most human rights groups. As the Nobel laureate Dr Watson once observed that fat people can interview for a job, but they just simply don't get hired.

Similarly, racial discrimination and the systematic incarceration of blacks is common place and widely accepted even as it causes nearly the majority of black males to be held in the modern day equivalent of concentration camps at least at some point in their lives.

Through the same process, blacks are deprived of their right to vote, most good jobs, etc. through perfectly legal processes, despite that it affects upwards of 70% of blacks.

If the likes of Brad Adams are so unhappy, it should go and complain to Hollywood, the largest employers in the US which systematically discriminate against people who are less attractive, and its own government. But in order to do that, it might have to get new glasses to see the discrimination in front of its nose.

If the world's largest democracy can practice such discrimination (almost as good as South Africa's former apartheid system), who needs totalianism?

[Henry]

Well, I think it is not quite wrong to choose pretty and tall women to present medals. Those young women, whose job is to presenting medals to winners, actually live on their good faces and figures, just like actresses or models. On the other hand, those women are representing China when presenting medals, the better appearances they have, the better impression of the athletes there will be.
But anyway, the phenomenon of discrimination is too common in China now. In many areas that have nothing to do with women’s appearance or figures (like typists, secretaries and so on.), pretty women still have more chances to get better jobs. Vanity is the main factor that causes the situation of discrimination, I think. It will take a long time to wipe out this vanity. What a pity.

[NICHOLE]

THIS IS SO STUPID> OMG what a jerk. I would throw a pie in his face lol jkjk LOLO :):) LOVA YA

[rev_matt_y]

I've watched Olympic medal ceremonies since 1984. The vast majority of presenters would fit the description of "Their figure should be good. They shouldn't be too heavy." It's absurd to take China to task for this without being equally critical of every other host nation of the past 25 years for the exact same thing. Maybe the mistake China made was in being honest about the criteria rather than pretending to accept all applicants equally and quietly rejecting anyone who does not have a good figure.

[nanheyangrouchuan]

@AB;

"it should go and complain to Hollywood, the largest employers in the US which systematically discriminate against people who are less attractive, and its own government."

You mean like Phillip Seymore? How about the new Maybelline cover girl, >40 years of age, >200 lbs Queen Latifah?

Jason Alexander? Kirstie Alley?

Ah, heck. Here is a long list of quality fat actors:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fat_actors

China's problem isn't just with weight, it is also with height and skin color.
bad, bad, bad.

[Larry]

I fully endorse the way China picks their medal girl. It is a standard that is conforming to the international view of beauty rather than a Chinese view of beauty - which is inner beauty instead of physical beauty. Abandoning the Chinese tradition is a great way to show what China wants to do: to please the rest of the world.

Which profession has "pleasing" as the most important means to make money ?

[Pffefer]

This Brad Adams guy is too funny. Is China running out of human rights violations? That he has nothing else to pick on? Chubby guys presenting medals? Hahaha, what a great idea this clueless Adams guy is implying. Adams should protest Miss USA pageant for not allowing a fat woman to ever win.

This shows how pathetic HWR has become.

[Mike]

I thought labelling this as a human rights violation was a little over the top. Since they will be appearing in front of an audience of billions why wouldn't you want some attractive women carrying out the medals and flowers?

[Obi]

The blatant hipocrisy of this article is almost laughable. I guess China's Olympic commitees only crime is actually stating an unwritten rule practiced all over the world.
In fact, the hardest predujice to fight is the unspoken. The unspoken prejudice that ensures that none of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders are ever fat and short; reason why they has been only 1 muslim congressman in US history; ensures that blacks and latinos get pulled over at a higher frequency; and typically get longer sentences and higher conviction rates than their caucasian counterparts; that minorities get higher interest rates etc. The list goes on.
I guess as long as it is not put in writing, the US public can continue to deny it exists and spare their conscience the 'torment'.

[rio]

To nanheyang..
don't worry, the bad bad chinese are learning the american way fast. My colleage in China tells me that 5 years ago employers used to just publish directly on the paper they are only hiring men, now they've learnt to apologise nicely when women call for interviews and lie that the positions already full. Give them another 5 years and they'll perfect giving the 'we're sorry, but we just don't feel you have the relevent experience' phrase to women they interview as equals.