An overweight but highly qualified woman finds herself consistently denied receptionist jobs for thinner candidates who can barely turn on a computer. A five-foot-tall man is constantly ridiculed in his office, with taller coworkers going so far as to pat him on the head patronizingly at meetings.
Sound unfair? It is. Sound illegal? It should - but unless this man and woman happened to live in Michigan, the only state with anti-discrimination laws based on height and weight, they would have no legal recourse.
Unless a person is obese enough or short enough to claim disability benefits, there is nothing he or she can do when faced with discrimination. The amount of such discrimination is surprisingly high: A study published in March by Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity found that weight discrimination is as prevalent as racial discrimination.
The laws could change, however, with a newly proposed bill in the Massachusetts legislature that would add height and weight onto the previously existing state law that bans discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national origin or ancestry with regard to housing, insurance, employment and union membership. If the bill were to pass, not only would it serve as a step towards changing pervasive societal stereotypes, but it would provide victims of height- and weight-based discrimination a much-needed means to fight back against
unfair prejudice.
It is important to recognize that there are limits on this sort of legislation. People who are clearly unqualified for a job would not be able to get it any more than they could now, and if specific heights or weights were necessary requirements for a particular occupation (for example, modeling), discrimination laws would not necessarily apply. (The same regulations exist under current discrimination laws: For example, it is not against the law to refuse to hire a male actor when casting a female role in a play.)
It is also important to note the necessity of public health education. Some critics of the proposed bill argue that it encourages obesity or allows for protection against discrimination based on lifestyle choices. Obesity is very rarely a lifestyle choice: Most people who are clinically obese, or even overweight, are not ordering five Big Macs every morning. Rather, they usually suffer from a metabolism or a thyroid condition that makes it more difficult to remain thin than it would be for other people - even if they have the same diet.
The problem exists not in individual behaviors, but in a society that makes it difficult (especially for those of lower socioeconomic status) to remain healthy. Those who worry about encouraging obesity should concern themselves not with opposing this bill, but rather with encouraging public health measures that would help combat America's weight problem.
In the meantime, those who suffer from discrimination should be able to fight back.
