RUGGED, pop-drinking manual workers with no tops believe sexism is rife in the workplace, a study has found.

According to the Institute for Studies, 74 per cent of shirtless, oiled maintenance men in tight denim believed their looks had inhibited their chances of promotion.

Window cleaner and odd job man, Bill McKay, said: “I work mainly for a company that makes women’s magazines and low-calorie soup drinks, and I honestly believe that if I were a slightly overweight 40-year-old woman called Trish I’d have been given a nice easy desk job by now.

“Just last week I made the mistake of slowly lowering myself past the window of the editorial office at around the time when the predominantly female staff are standing around the drinks machine, talking about clitorises.

“It was a hot day hence I was working shirtless, also I had applied some oil-based sun lotion that happened to make my torso gleam while accidentally accentuating my muscle definition.

“The gathered women exhaled audibly. One un-did two blouse buttons, another fanned herself with a rolled-up magazine.”

He added: “A similar thing happened when I had to fix the lift wearing a tight vest streaked with grease. I felt like a piece of meat.

“Last week I tried to pitch a really good idea for pull-out menu cards but my female boss responded by asking me how big my spanner was, and whether I had a name for it.

“I am Bill. And I am a person.”