27 November,2012 12:01 PM IST | | ANI
Clocking other women's shoes, height, cellulite, where their handbag is from and whether or not they have had plastic surgery is the usual thought process, the study found.
Others check out women to see if they are thinner than them, while trying to spot dark or unflattering hair roots is also commonplace, while looking out for wedding rings is also on the checklist.
Half of the 2,000 women polled by online retailer Swimwear 365 said that they "enjoy" comparing themselves to women they work with, befriend or pass in the street, the Daily Mail reported.
The beach is the place where most female ogling goes on, with 80 percent of those polled saying that they love having a good look at other women when they are sunbathing.
The study also found one in five like to guess what country other women are from, 43 percent like to check out their swimwear and one in twenty like to critique their tans.
One third said that they would be more impressed by a female with a toned physique than a man, and 42 percent said every woman was something to compare themselves to.
A competitive one in ten women said they always want to look better than "the opposition," but a more realistic 40 percent said they don't compare themselves to other women in a spiteful way.
Nearly half of those polled said that they compliment women they don't know on how they look, with the most likely compliment to be about their clothes.
86 percent of ladies said that they would never dream of going up to a man they didn't know and paying him a compliment - the main reason being that they wouldn't want the man to think they were chatting him up. Twnety-five per cent said it would go to his head.
On a day to day basis 42 percent of ladies said they dress to impress their female peers and not the opposite sex - and even on big nights out its girls they are trying to impress, not men.
Of those surveyed half said they get a genuine buzz when women they don't know give them a compliment on how they look, but a cynical 43 percent of said that they don't believe it when a man pays them a compliment.
"There is not a woman on the planet who doesn't love people-watching and having a sneaky look at other women," Helen Boyle, stylist for Swimwear365, said.
"It's only natural that we compare ourselves and the way we look to how other women dress, do their hair and, of course, their figure.
"The beach is probably the best place to have a good nose at other women, you don't usually get to see people half-dressed and in so much detail. And of course you can hide behind your sunglasses when you are having a peek," she said.
She added that women check-out other women because they can relate to them and they know how hard it can be to keep a trim figure or maintain healthy hair, so there is obviously a genuine interest in how other females look.
