Pregnant Women Face Hostility When Applying For Jobs
June 30, 2008
While, many are not ready to concede to the fact, but ask any pregnant woman and she will tell you that pregnancy discrimination exists. Two recent studies carried out by George Mason and Rice University professors confirm pregnant woman are accorded an overtly hostile reception when applying for jobs, even when shopping at retail stores. In one study, 81 adults were asked to evaluate a pregnant and a non-pregnant applicant for a job that could be performed by either a man or a woman. Evaluators for jobs like corporate lawyer, janitor, high school math teacher or general surgeon seemed more judgemental toward pregnant women, than when evaluating the same applicant for positions, such as, maid, kindergarten teacher or paediatrician.
In another study, research assistants visited over a hundred retail stores, at times wearing prosthesis to appear pregnant. Following a pre-defined script, they either put in job applications or simply browsed for a gift. A secret observer, including the research assistants rated the salespersons’ hostile behaviour e.g. rude, anxious, short, including patronising behaviour, such as, using abbreviated names, overfriendliness, touching, etc. The study concluded that prosthesis wearing women asking about job opportunities faced significantly more hostility, than when the same women appeared non-pregnant.
Though, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 prohibits formal discrimination against pregnant women in all government jobs and companies with 15-plus employees, unfortunately, it is but human psychology that when discrimination is suppressed in one area, it emerges in another. The study brought into focus the fact that pregnant women staying within more traditional bounds, such as, shopping experienced overtly patronising behaviour. They were often the victims of overfriendly behaviour, physical touching and being called Honey or Sweetie. So, does all this niceness have negative consequences? Of course, it does! These reactions serve to maintain traditional gender roles and inhibit women’s success, both in and outside of the workplace.
The research shows that current practices against pregnancy discrimination have failed woefully. This combination of benevolence toward pregnant women in traditional roles and hostility toward those who seek non-traditional roles, suggests a system of complementary inter-personal rewards and punishments that may discourage pregnant women from pursuing work that violates gender norms. Condescended to by total strangers or facing hostility in job applications, no wonder more and more women who are ambitious and seeking to carve a niche for themselves in male dominated professions, are seeking to delay starting a family till their clock starts ticking!
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