Battle of the Thermostat’: Cold Rooms May Hurt Women’s Productivity

In a new study, women scored better on tests they took in warmer rooms.

Women’s scores on math tests increased by 27 percent when the temperature rose from below 70 degrees Fahrenheit to above 80 degrees. Birmingham Post and Mail Archive/Mirrorpix, via Getty Images

Women’s scores on math tests increased by 27 percent when the temperature rose from below 70 degrees Fahrenheit to above 80 degrees. Birmingham Post and Mail Archive/Mirrorpix, via Getty Images 

It is a truth universally acknowledged — or at least, much discussed on social media — that a woman who works in an office is in want of a sweater.

Office air conditioning is often set at a temperature that women find chilly; the resulting water-cooler debate has been called the “battle of the thermostat.” One study even suggested that because women have slower metabolic rates, the formula used to set temperatures in workplaces, which was developed decades ago based on the comfort of men, may overestimate women’s body heat production by 35 percent.

By Veronique GreenwoodMay 22, 2019