The hourglass figure that models showcase might seem like the ideal form of female beauty, but a new study shows that women with a rounder shape can better handle a competitive job and raising children.
U anthropologist Elizabeth Cashdan said she always heard the argument that men prefer women with an hourglass shape. Whenever she listened to lectures on evolutionary biology that proclaimed men preferred that body type because it increased fertility, she was stumped because it seemed obvious that plenty of women had a larger waist-to-hip ratio.
“Most women don’t look like playboy models,” Cashdan said. “Men appreciate beauty, but an hourglass shape isn’t necessary.”
Cashdan studied the waist-to-hip ratios in women throughout the non-Western world and found that most women have a more “apple-shaped” figure.
“Most had above a 0.8 waist-to-hip ratio, (even though) 0.8 or above is considered unhealthy for women,” Cashdan said. “In our society, women who tend to put on a lot of fat on their bellies are at greater risk for metabolic syndrome, diabetes and other weight-related problems.”
An hourglass figure might seem healthier for women, but Cashdan’s study shows that, in fact, women with a rounder shape are more likely to effectively handle pressure and be more competitive.
Using data from 33 non-Western countries, Cashdan showed that many women had a higher waist-to-hip ratio, which contradicts the idea that a lower ratio is the optimal body type and an evolutionary development.
Mercedes Ward, a doctoral anthropology student who has worked with Cashdan on similar studies, said the idea about optimal shape has always revolved around reproductive ability and fitness, which a body type with a waist-hip ratio lower than 0.7 is more likely to encompass.
“But when you look at the data, the average is not 0.7,” Ward said.
More women in non-Western populations, such as cultures in Africa or New Guinea, have body types above the expected ideal, which Cashdan believes is because they have added more testosterone and other hormones that help them survive better in their environment.
The same hormones that are more prevalent in women with a higher waist-to-hip ratio contribute to quick responses to stressful situations. Higher levels of testerone-like hormones contribute to holding more fat in the stomach and give women attributes similar to that of men.
“Women with high…levels (of those hormones) are more likely to describe themselves as action-oriented, resourceful, controlling and powerful,” Cashdan said in the study.
In a hunter-gatherer society, women were expected to provide food for their families. Cashdan said even in Africa today, women play an important role in supporting their children.
“In horticultural societies in places such as Africa and New Guinea, women do most of the work, they do most of the cultivation,” Cashdan said.
Ward said the optimal body type depends on the environment. She said Cashdan is studying women in Salt Lake City and testing their physical abilities to further research the hypothesis.
The current study was published in the December issue of Current Anthropology.