When Imran got a job as a security guard at a private university in Karachi, Pakistan in 2010, he threw himself into the job with his heart and soul.
He works the night shift and tries to project confidence while protecting the property from theft and vandalism, while also being cordial with everyone as he is the first point of contact for early morning visitors.
But not everything goes smoothly.
At only 157 centimeters tall, Imran is very slightly below the average height of Pakistani men.
And again, the employees who arrived gave Imran nicknames they thought were funny.
"Muna bai!" one would exclaim, a local term for beating a smaller, younger brother.
"Bona", another would call him - an Urdu term for pygmy or dwarf.
Imran, whose last name is being withheld for his safety at work, says he is proud of who he is and can handle "all the ups and downs" of his height.
But there is one area where he suspects his height has had a particularly negative impact, and that is salary.
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"When it's time for a raise, they start comparing me to the new guards.
"I have been serving this institution for a very long time, I should not be in the same salary category as them," he states.
No one has linked the two directly, and even Imran sometimes wonders if it's just a figment of his imagination that his height plays a role in regularly being passed over for promotion.
But after finding himself in the same pay grade as newly drafted guards for another year in a row, he can't help but wonder if he's being held back by evaluations based on his stature — not his work.
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Height discrimination is one of the least known or discussed prejudices and one of the most difficult to confirm.
Like Imran, many question whether that conclusion is ridiculous and question whether anyone can associate short stature with negative qualities.
Even those of "normal" or above-average height find it hard to believe that they ever had height prejudice or even benefited from it.
Yet research shows that at the professional level, height affects both men and women in tangible, albeit slightly different, ways.
Studies show that height correlates with higher income because recruiters favor taller candidates, and height also affects promotion opportunities.
Research shows that we perceive more men and women as "more suitable for the role of leader", considering them more dominant, more intelligent and healthier.
Tall men are more likely to reach management positions.
However, "Haitism" is an innate prejudice, which we could cultivate or adopt unconsciously.
And because of that concealment, it is particularly difficult to eradicate it.
'Draw the shortest straw'
We know that there are different forms of discrimination related to our appearance, for example with weight or when someone has a baby face.
But we also discriminate against people based on height, because we perceive taller people as better than others.
Dr. Omer Kimi, an associate professor at the University of Haifa Law School, who has researched haytism, believes it has its roots in evolutionary prejudice, due to the importance of height and strength in the animal kingdom.
"If you are bigger, you are the leader of the group. Some of it remains imprinted and we perceive height as something related to authority, strength and a higher position," he says.
Our respect for height may indeed be instinctive, a remnant of the primitive ways we mapped social hierarchies in the past.
In ancient societies, physical form and dominance were important leadership qualities.
But, says Dr Erin Pritchard, a lecturer in disability studies at Liverpool's Hope University and a key member of the Center for Culture and Disability Studies, there are many ways in which we entrench Haitiism in contemporary society.
"Countries have their own optimal height based on the curve and that becomes the norm of what everyone 'should' be."
"If you're below that, we wonder if something's wrong, but we respect the height," says Pritchard.
Heightism often enters the language, which is full of idioms that highlight the virtues of height while associating negative qualities with lowness.
"To fail" usually means "to draw the shortest straw", "to stay short or short-sleeved", "to win" in life means that we can look down on others, achieve the highest goals, grow into apple trees and be a head taller than everyone else.
Subconsciously, we form beliefs about people that we associate with height and cognitive and physical qualities.
We subconsciously perceive taller people as more capable and resistant to risk, dominant, extremely talented and even charismatic.
On the other hand, explains Pritchard, "people who are shorter are not taken seriously, are often disrespected and can be ridiculed."
This is because hatism is an innate prejudice and does not fit our mental pattern of discrimination as a deliberate and harmful act.
Managers, for example, may not be aware that the way they perceive an employee - or their appearance - is in any way related to their height, making this problem particularly difficult to deal with.
In Imran's case, he wouldn't even know how to raise with his superiors whether his height is a factor in determining his salary.
"Who should I turn to? I am honored to be given a very responsible job, what would I even say to them? How do I start it without ruining everything?", he comments.
It is almost three meters tall and still growing:
Influence at work
Although it is difficult to define this form of discrimination, Haitianism has a profound and measurable impact on the success of workers.
Research into systemic discrimination in hiring decisions has shown that employers may reject shorter candidates even if their resumes are similar to taller candidates, and subconsciously associate positive job traits such as confidence, ability and physical fitness with height.
Once they are employed, a meta-analysis shows that the promotion rate is positively related to their height.
Kimi refers to Malcolm Gladwell's widely cited survey of executives of the "500 Richest Companies" in his 2005 book, Train.
"Among the American population, about 14,5 percent of all men are 182 centimeters or taller.
"Among CEOs of the richest 500 companies, that figure is 58 percent," Gladwell wrote.
Height can also contribute to the difference in wages.
Studies from the UK, China and the US show a correlation between greater height and higher pay, although the exact figures vary.
And there is also a gender component.
Research conducted by Inas R. Kelly, professor of economics at Loyola Marymount University of California, found significant differences in the impact of height on income by gender.
"White men receive a much higher premium for every additional 10 centimeters of height than women," she says, and the gap is even more pronounced for African Americans.
This relates to the idea that women can be too tall and that they face discrimination that tall men do not.
According to research done with tall female students, their above-average height led to a feeling of 'unintended threat'.
"If there is a woman who towers over others, she could be perceived as a threat.
"As a woman, if you show dominance, it's considered aggression. It can be problematic," says Pritchard.
On the other hand, men are more susceptible to haytism.
As Kelly's findings suggest, taller men have more to gain by being tall than women, but short women have less to lose, because the wage premium dictated by taller women is much smaller.
This may be because women who are slightly shorter than average can still be perceived as "small" and "cute," explains Pritchard.
Of course, "Haitism" is not only manifested in external condemnations of an individual.
Research shows that there are other factors related to height that affect people's behavior, which in turn can affect work.
Kelly points out that many experts claim that height is actually positively related to cognitive ability and is simply rewarded in the labor market.
She also suggests that the question is whether shorter individuals may have experienced discrimination in such a way that it affected their self-confidence, mental health and emotional stability - which can affect promotion and pay.
For example, taller children have more self-confidence due to more opportunities to participate in team-building sports at school, while shorter students may have been bullied, leading to less developed interpersonal skills and lower self-esteem.
Similarly, being tall can encourage other successes, such as in your love life, leading to greater self-confidence.
"It is difficult to rule out discrimination at some stage, if not in the employment stage, then at least in an earlier stage of their lives," she says.
"Like most 'isms'"
Given how entrenched and yet hidden Haitianism is, finding concrete ways to combat it can be difficult.
Height-related legislation exists only in a few jurisdictions, such as Michigan's Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of height when hiring and paying workers.
The laws forbid that height is stated as a necessary prerequisite unless it is a professional qualification necessary for the normal functioning of the job.
But even where such legislation exists, very few cases end up in court.
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Kimi points out that because height discrimination is so difficult to identify, more data is needed.
Many companies already store various data on gender and race in order to track inclusion and progress in companies.
Although it sounds unlikely, Kimi believes that including height in the data and putting pressure on companies to disclose differences in pay based on height, could have helped raise awareness that this type of discrimination occurs.
"And if they start noticing it, things will change," he says.
Pritchard hopes that remote hiring via Zum or video calls could reduce the biases that creep into the hiring stage.
"When you're online, you only see the candidate's head and shoulders, so you can't make subconscious judgments.
"And if they hire someone and it turns out to be a great choice, by the time the employer finds out that the person is only 157 centimeters tall, the employee has already built a decent reputation," she says.
More broadly, experts suggest it may be time to rethink our evolutionary glorification of height.
This could be done by critically evaluating the differences between modern and prehistoric environments.
Also, we might wonder if the qualities we once considered key to success are actually relevant to achievement in today's workplace.
But given the deep-seated nature of our beliefs, that might be too high a bar.
As long as people continue to believe that success, leadership, and even discrimination look a certain way, the problem will not go away.
In the end, change, as cliché as it sounds, will have to come from within, by challenging innate biases.
However, the fight against Haitiism will be a long journey.
As Pritchard says, "like most '-isms,' it will be an ongoing process."
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