Taller women win...:-(

....at least when it comes to acting awards. The total average of all acting awards (Golden Globes will be broken into two categories, television and film), is: a little over 5'6", with television Oscar winners being the tallest in the past seven years. While the average certainly isn't supermodel tall, just slightly above the average-average height of North American women, it isn't petite either. In fact, when it comes to Oscar winners, the two truely petite women, Reese Witherspoon and Helen Mirren, won for playing real people (interesting note: June Carter-Cash was actually 5'5 1/2" at her full height, making her 3 1/2" taller than Reese! Elizabeth II is 5'4", the same as Helen Mirren.). Another thing to point out is that the petite women have a much better chance to win if awards are separated into comedy and drama categories. The average heights of leading actress winners in the comedy/musical categories are:

• 5'6" (Golden Globes-film)
• 5'4 1/2" (Golden Globes-television.....Sarah Jessica Parker won three times in this category, but the stats don't change much even if you only count her once.)
• 5'3 3/4" (Emmys)

Compare that to women who won in the drama categories:

• approx. 5'6 1/2" (Golden Globes-film)
• a little under 5'8" (Golden Globes-television)
• around 5'6 1/3" (Emmys)

So it looks like Hollywood is not very accepting of shorter women in dramatic roles. That petite actresses can only succeed in girl-next-door/spunky gal type roles (e.g. Carrie, Betty, etc...) unless the dramatic role is that of a "real person." This "short women not taken seriously" syndrome not only exists in Hollywood, but outside as well. Take a look at your place of work, and see which women are "in charge." Are the female senior managers and executives mostly taller? There are plenty of stats and stories about height discrimination and men, that shorter men make less money than their taller counterparts, but little has been done for women. Perhaps there just isn't enough information right now, since women are only beginning to get very senior level jobs (and getting rid of mandatory retirement in certain jurisdictions isn't really helping us break the so-called "glass ceiling") It might have to do with clothing too. Taller women require fewer alterations (if at all) to their clothes. There are some things that can't be altered, so the item would look more ill-fitting on shorter women, but some people in the fashion industry don't really "get it." (Laurie Roe of the Petite Boutique explains about petite misconceptions in her blog.)