’Wear a skirt, not a trouser suit for more success in workplace’

A study shows that skirts give a better first impression and are more likely to lead to success in the workplace, the Daily Mail reported Monday.

Women were considered more confident and more likely to earn a higher salary when wearing a skirt instead of trousers, according to the study.

Professor Karen Pine, who co-led the study at the University of Hertfordshire, was quoted by the Mail as saying the findings contradicted previous research which suggested women should dress more like men to succeed in the workplace.

When researchers asked 300 people to give “snap judgments” of images of women in either trouser suits or a skirts, they favored those in skirts, the study said.

They were asked to rate the women in eight images on five different criteria: confidence, success, trustworthiness, salary and flexibility, and the skirt and trouser suits were both navy and made from the same fabric, and all facial features were removed by pixelation, the newspaper said.

Scientists found that after just three seconds, the participants made up their mind and rated the women in the skirts more positively than those in the trouser suits, the Mail said.