Short people got no reason to live!

Well, that isn’t what I’m saying, but it’s the lyric-excerpt of a controversial song in the 1970s. If statistics are anything to go by, tall people earn more and are better off than short people.

Each additional inch of height adds roughly 2 percent to average annual earnings, for both men and women. So, if the average heights of our hypothetical groups were 6 feet and 5 feet 7 inches, the average pay difference between them would be 10 percent.

Height appears to matter, when intelligence is not included, because taller people are, on average, smarter.

Oops!

… taller people are more prevalent in occupations such as executive/manager, professional, and sales relative to occupations like laborer, farmer, or machine operator.

You don’t really need a research to say this bit.

I remember one instance when the MD of the company where my father worked rejected a candidate because he was short. The candidate had all the other essentials required for the post, except for the height. And the MD’s explanation was that colleagues in Germany (it was a German company after all) might not respect a short, thin person. Similarly, a shorter friend of mine in the college was rejected for a specific post in the college that involved facing a lot of people and impressing them. Reason: He doesn’t have the persona to get the required amount of respect.

So, is it fair? I guess the only answer is: nothing in the world is fair. In India, people with a fair complexion get preference over darker ones. Of course, as the west is crazy about the ‘oh-so-beautiful’ brownish-bronze tan, Indians, who are tan, or a maybe a tad too tan, are crazy about being fair. Guess the grass on the other side is always green, except may be in the case of being tall!