Well, the title says it all really. It’s the million dollar question for a jobseeker, along with ‘would you lie on an application form’. But I really want to think about a specific sort of interview lie that seems to matter much more to women than to men. In this week’s Chronicle a pseudonymous article made me think about this issue: specifically, would I lie about having/wanting children in order to get a job?
The author of the Chronicle article (read the whole thing here) tells two truly cringeworthy stories about the American interview circuit. She does have a family and felt unable to admit as much during a grueling 2-day interview recently. At another interview day when someone not on the panel blatantly asked ‘do you have kids’ (in total contravention of employment law on both sides of the Atlantic) the author point-blank refused to answer the question, thus creating more awkwardness and embarassment. So what should she have done? And why is this even still an issue?
Of course in this day and age with equal opportunities legislation everywhere, no one should have to worry that they will be discriminated against for having or wanting a family; but the fear of discrimination is still there. It did flick through my mind, when going for my interview at MMU, that if I admitted I was getting married a few months later some people might see a early thirty-something woman about to settle down and put two and two together and make five! As it happens I was totally open about my forthcoming nuptials and no one mentioned the patter of tiny feet, so it was probably paranoia on my part. But the article in the Chronicle at least shows that I am not the only one worried about this.
As we all know people with families can be totally dedicated to their jobs too. And when maternity cover is managed well it benefits everyone: the new mum, the temporary replacement and the students. And yet, despite this logical assessment of the situation, the residual fear of discrimination remains. If you have any experience of this, of actual awful interview situations or of the fear of discrimination then please add a comment!
After reading this I feel the potential for the double discrimination of age & motherhood. I am a 47yr old mother of three young daughters. I am just dipping my toe into the postgraduate sphere (applying for an MA). I had a career (nurse/midwife) before children and do not anticipate a desire to be too high flying again, but I do want to be taken seriously. I cannot deny my age and do not want to deny my children, after all, if it were not for them I would still be in my former career and not loving every minute as an undergraduate. Discrimination is out there, but I feel that denying the existance of any children fuels that, reinforces the view that a mother as an employee is in some way less able than a woman without. Surely a woman who has young children, runs a home and works as an academic should be admired and hired.
Hi Jan,
Thanks for your comments. I think you’re right that denying that you have/want a family does perpetuate the perception that a woman can’t be 100% committed to her job if she has kids. But it’s difficult to be the one to stand up and challenge discrimination when a job in a competitive environment is on the line! And you’re right, age discrimination is another important issue. I have heard several people say that they felt discriminated against when applying for lectureships because they weren’t in their late 20s or early 30s.
Catherine
After i read this article, i had struggle in my mind. Especially Jan comment above. Yes, i can feel there would be a discrimination when someone applying jobs on certain job environment. Maybe if your age about 40+, you can apply for jobs that those age can fit on. Ex: in academic maybe. Or if we want to be politician, that range of age must be qualified. So i guess, its depend again on how we would like to fit into what kind of jobs that suitable on our age. Yes, we do have to think about our skill and competence also, its mandatory.
Chandra