Men with moustaches are considered more mature, more responsible, more dominant, more strong, and more self-confident (in a patriarchal society).
Men with moustaches are considered more mature, more responsible, more dominant, more strong, and more self-confident (in a patriarchal society). SFIO CRACHO/shutterstock.com

Four researchers looked at the upper lips of the leadership of the top 50 US medical schools funded by the National Institutes of Health. They found more moustaches than women, according to a study published yesterday by the British Medical Journal.

"Our hypothesis was that fewer women lead academic medical departments in the US than individuals with moustaches," the researchers reported, and their hypothesis turned out to be true.

The total pool of leaders studied was 1,018 department leaders across American medical academia. Researchers found that females accounted for 13 percent of leaders, while moustaches appeared on 19 percent of leaders.

(Did the researchers come across any women with moustaches? They did not: "Moustachioed individuals were all men and accounted for 19 percent (190/1018) of department leaders.")

You will enjoy the full read of the abstract, which contains lines like, "Ten specialties had more than 20% moustachioed department leaders, with the thickest moustache density in psychiatry (31%; 17/54), pathology (30%; 16/53), and anesthesiology (26%; 14/53). Two specialties had fewer than 10% moustaches (general surgery (2%; 1/53) and plastic surgery (4%; 2/52))."

Tables and graphs: also fun. Table 1, "Moustache indices by institution," reveals that Harvard has the greatest number of moustaches by an impressive margin.

The meaning of the moustache? Also discussed.

"To highlight the paucity of women in academic medical leadership, we wanted to choose a rare but easily identifiable comparator unrelated to promotion and achievement: the moustache. Facial hair, however, has been shown to enhance perceptions of maturity, responsibility, dominance, strength, and self confidence."

This is the graphic in the study below the heading, Definition of moustache.
This is the graphic in the study below the heading, "Definition of moustache." BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL

So the moustache may in fact be related to promotion and achievement, if men with moustaches are considered more mature, more responsible, more dominant, more strong, and more self-confident. But dominance, strength, and self-confidence are the markers of what's good in the patriarchy, so the moustache is also a reminder that if people doing the hiring don't decide what they want first—and be sure that their criteria aren't conventionally masculinist—then they are likely to hire men even though their criteria appear on the surface to be neutral.

"Recent evidence from psychology, sociology, and economics, however, suggests that two additional strategies might be necessary to close the gap. Firstly, define hiring criteria in advance of evaluating candidates. Without clearly defined criteria, evaluators unconsciously redefine what they are seeking to match the attributes of male candidates."

These researchers were thorough. If their study seems absurd, it's because the state of the field is absurd.

Sex discrepancies in leadership are distressingly common across specialties.

...

We believe that every department and institution should strive for a moustache index ≥1. There are two ways to achieve this goal: by increasing the number of women or by asking leaders to shave their moustaches. In addition to being discriminatory, the latter choice could have detrimental effects on workplace satisfaction and emotional wellbeing of moustachioed individuals. Deans are left with one option: to hire, retain, and promote more women.