AC chills women’s productivity

Science has sided with women in the thermostat wars that rage in offices across the country every summer, reports The Washington Post. Workplaces often set their air conditioning at cooler temperatures that are comfortable for men in long-sleeved shirts and suits rather than for women in short-sleeved blouses and skirts—a phenomenon that some feminists have called sexist. Now scientists have discovered that women are less productive in chillier temperatures, regardless of what they’re wearing—and that men do better when it’s cooler. The researchers asked more than 500 college students to spend an hour solving math, logic, and word problems, at temperatures ranging from 61 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. For each increase of 1.8 degrees, women’s math scores went up by nearly 1.8 percent, and their word test results by 1 percent. Men, however, answered fewer questions as the temperature went up and gave fewer correct answers. The subjects were all wearing roughly the same clothes, suggesting the disparity may be biological rather than sartorial. The findings, say the study authors, “suggest that in gender-balanced workplaces, temperatures should be set significantly higher than current standards.”

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