Beautiful businesswomen are viewed as untrustworthy 'femmes fatales'

Attractive women bosses are considered less truthful and trustworthy by both sexes, research has found.

In tests, hundreds of male and female participants f thought a pretty female boss was less likely to be honest.

They were also considered more deserving of being fired than a less attractive counterpart.

Good looks are often thought to be advantageous in life, whether when it comes to getting served in shops or pubs or being more likely to succeed at a job interview, and even the likelihood you are found guilty in court.

But when it comes to the most senior roles, however, attractive women were considered to be more deceitful. 

It seems that any woman who shatters the glass ceiling is perceived to have used underhand methods to get there, the research suggests.

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Attractive women bosses are considered less truthful and trustworthy by both sexes, research has found. In tests, hundreds of male and female participants found thought a pretty female boss was less likely to be honest (stock image)

Attractive women bosses are considered less truthful and trustworthy by both sexes, research has found. In tests, hundreds of male and female participants found thought a pretty female boss was less likely to be honest (stock image)

Researchers from Washington State University and others dubbed the distrust of the attractive female boss 'the Femme Fatale syndrome'.

The authors suggest that a beautiful woman boss will have to work hard to convince people that she rather than looks alone or through 'ingratiation, manipulation or seduction.' 

The idea that there is prejudice against female bosses is not new.

But this has been explained in the past on the idea that women 'aren't fitting' in a traditional masculine role as a boss.

The latest study rejects this explanation and, based on a series of experiments, suggests the distrust is motivated by deep-seated sexual insecurity and jealousy.

Leah Sheppard, lead author of the paper, said: 'Highly attractive women can be perceived as dangerous and that matters when we are assessing things like how much we trust them and whether we believe that what they are saying is truthful.

'It becomes more nuanced when we look at gender,' she added.

'For women there are certain contexts in which they don't seem to benefit from their beauty.' 

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