Women are worse than men when it comes to telling others they're fat

Women are quick to judge others on their size.

Women are judged on their size - and when it comes to criticism their fellow females are as bad as the blokes for dishing it out.

And unsurprisingly men will not judge themselves as harshly as they do women, according to new research.

It backs up previous findings on wage inequality between sexes, as women with wider waistlines earn less than people smaller than them.

The study is set to be published in the journal, Economics and Human Biology and is a joint effort by experts from University of Surrey and the University of Oxford.

It is the first study to analyse both genders' perspective of attractiveness.

Professor Sonia Oreffice, of the University of Surrey, said: "This is the first study that looks at the relationship between BMI and attractiveness, from both gender's perspective.

"When it comes to 'beauty', being an overweight woman is judged negatively by both sexes, whereas men are a lot more forgiving towards each other."

The universities assessed how male and female interviewers scored the attractiveness of both genders.

They found that female interviewers would judge men and women with higher BMI's less attractive while men would judge their fellow gender much less harshly.

The research could pave the way for the gender of interviewers assessing attractiveness being more seriously considered.

Professor Oreffice added: "While we are not entirely surprised with the results that correlate BMI and attractiveness, what is remarkable is that gender of the interviewer makes a difference, and that body size matters for wages not simply as proxy for beauty."