Science Proves Women Perform Worse In Chilly Work Environments

Winter may be fast approaching, but we've been resisting turning the heating on for weeks now. After all, with so many of us working from home, having the heating on all day long is sure to put a dent in our bank balance.

But while shivering from the sofa all day is no fun, it turns out Baltic conditions are also damaging women's performance when it comes to working, according to one study.

Research has found women work more effectively at maths and verbal tasks at higher temperatures, while oppositely, men perform best in cooler conditions. Performance in cognitive tasks by both men and women was found not to be effected by temperature.

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Over in the office, thanks to air con, temperatures can be just as chilly. The research, published in Plos One titled Gender and the Effect Of Temperature On Cognitive Performance, suggests that in gender-balanced workplaces, temperatures are currently at the disadvantage of women and "should be set significantly higher than current standards".

Currently, the 1992 Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations require employers to provide minimum workplace temperatures of at least 16 degrees or 13 degrees if the indoor work requires physical effort. There is no maximum temperature in the regulations.

Current air conditioning standards are taken from research from the 1960s, which is based on the metabolic rate of an 11-stone, 40-year-old man.

The research tested over 500 students from universities in Berlin who were asked to perform maths, verbal, and cognitive reflection tasks. One set of tasks was completed in a room controlled at 16.19 degrees celsius, while the other was completed in a room at 32.57 degrees celsius.

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The researchers pointed out that one disadvantage of this subject pool is that it's "not representative of the whole population with respect to age and education level".

As well as concluding that workplace temperatures could be disadvantaging women, the researchers said their results should be taken into consideration in all further scientific experiments that study psychology, economics and social science that test human subjects.

They said: "Since we show that ordinary variations in room temperature can affect cognitive performance significantly and differently for men and women, experimental social scientists should take this into account when both designing experiments and interpreting the results."

Topics: Science, health news, Health

Ciara Sheppard

Ciara is a freelance journalist working for Tyla. After graduating from the University of Sussex, Ciara worked as a writer at GLAMOUR Magazine and later as the Assistant Editor of Yahoo Style UK.

@ciarasheppard