Women Are Dirtier Than Men at the Office

Here is a news flash for you to chew on, especially if you are female and work in an office. Women are considered dirtier then men due in part to being the primary caretakers of sick family members. They are also considered munchy hoarders that stash food in desk drawers which leads to mold and other bacteria throughout their personal space. This profound data comes straight from Charles Gerba, microbiology professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson who was commissioned by the Clorox Company to conduct the analysis.

His study examined 113 offices where both men and women work and he determined that women's offices had three to four times more bacteria, mold and yeast than men's. Telephones, computer keyboards, desk drawers, and pens were swabbed, along with desk tops, and it was quickly determined that the women had more mold and germs on personal objects and other office supplies, with the exception of desk tops, which found that men had dirtier, contaminated desks, laden with germy microbes.

It was found that men generally stash wrapped candy bars, while women tend to stash unopened food like salads and dried fruit. Gerba determined the biggest factor in women being the dirtier sex at the office was that they brought contaminants directly from home which is his pointed way of saying that women are not particularly sanitary when it comes to hand washing. However, the study did conclude that men's wallets were the worst overall offending germ carrier.

Gerba claims that desk tops alone have 400 times more germs than toilet seats in the majority of offices, due in part to lazy janitors that neglect them. Gerba started his study on office cubicles and other common places that humans inhabit since 2001, and each year his testing comes out with different concentrations, but he sticks to his facts found from his testing that women are the dirtier sex when it comes to the office.

While I respect this man's knowledge and authority, he seems to have forgotten that his studies found that men's desk tops were found to be dirtier then that of the women's, and that he had concluded that they are more unsanitary than the office toilet seat. His findings did not include the statistics on the male verses female toilets on unsanitary conditions, but I am willing to bet that the men would win hands down if Gerba was the one measuring the microbes in the potty areas.

Charles Gerba is an expert of environmental microbiology in the departments of microbiology, immunology, soil, water, and environmental science. He is also a nationally known expert on household microbes and intestinal diseases who regularly conducts research on the development of new disinfectants and drinking water treatment processes, as well as new methods for the detection of waterborne pathogens and pathogens in the environment, and microbial risk assessment.