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>despite being low on this list Marissa Mayer is by far one of the most recognisable, probably because as an attractive woman it's a good brand for Yahoo

Or it could be because she used to do PR for google (#73), and she's in our industry.

With image links so you can judge for yourself whether the conclusions of the article hold true or not.

Personally I don't think so. Whilst I wouldn't describe any of these hugely succesful women as unattractive, I think they would compare to the attractiveness ratings of male CEOs (also a bit above average).

Meg Whitman, HP (#10) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Meg+Whitman&tbm=isch

Virginia Rometty, IBM (#19) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Virginia+Rometty&tbm=i...

Patricia A. Woertz, Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) (#28) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Patricia+A+Woertz&tbm=...

Indra K. Nooyi, PepsiCo, Inc. (#41) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Indra+K+Nooyi&tbm=isch

Irene B. Rosenfeld, Mondelez International https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Irene+B+Rosenfeld&tbm=...

Marillyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin (#58) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Marillyn+Hewson&tbm=is...

Ellen J. Kullman, DuPont (#72) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Ellen+J+Kullman&tbm=is...

Phebe Novakovic, General Dynamics (#92) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Phebe+Novakovic&tbm=is...

Carol M. Meyrowitz, The TJX Companies, Inc. (#125) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Carol+M+Meyrowitz&tbm=...

Ursula M. Burns, Xerox Corporation (#127) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Ursula+M+Burns&tbm=isc...

Sheri S. McCoy, Avon Products Inc. (#234) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Sheri+S+McCoy&tbm=isch

Deanna M. Mulligan, Guardian (#250) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Deanna+M+Mulligan&tbm=...

Debra L. Reed, Sempra Energy (#266) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Debra+L+Reed&tbm=isch

Denise M. Morrison, Campbell Soup (#334) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Denise+M+Morrison&tbm=...

Ilene Gordon, Ingredion Incorproated (#390) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Ilene+Gordon&tbm=isch

Heather Bresch, Mylan (#396) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Heather+Bresch&tbm=isc...

Kathleen M. Mazzarella, Graybar Electric (#451) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Kathleen+M+Mazzarella&...

Mary Agnes (Maggie) Wilderotter, Frontier Communications (#464) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Mary+Wilderotter&tbm=i...

Gracia C. Martore, Gannett (#465) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Gracia+C+Martore&tbm=i...

Marissa Mayer, Yahoo (#483) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Marissa+Mayer&tbm=isch

Beth E. Mooney, KeyCorp (#499) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Beth+E+Mooney&tbm=isch

This does not prove anything. Even if fewer smart but less attractive females were hired due to the discrimination we would still expect to see intelligent women that did get hired, attractive or not, end up making it.

Of course to test the theory the attractiveness should be judged based on their appearance at about age 22 and the judgement made by men 5-15 years older who were making the hiring judgements at the time.

As a whole, I think that's definitely a good-looking group of women.

The only way we're going to resolve this is some manner of blind comparison data gathering like the ancient "hotornot" dotcom from a decade or so ago, assuming the only people interested enough to provide data aren't already so interested in the topic that they recognize the CEOs on sight.

> Ironically despite being low on this list Marissa Mayer is by far one of the most recognisable, probably because as an attractive woman it's a good brand for Yahoo.

Or publicly pulling a highly recognizable face from Google is really good for Yahoo!.