Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Apologist for discriminatory interview - in the Guardian of all places!

54 replies

Blu · 05/05/2015 19:41

Here

In the Dear Jeremy column a woman asks how to deal with the fact that she was asked, by two men, at interview, how she would "cope with the work bearing in mind that she had 2 children."

Jeremy more or less tells her to calm down and says "At a cool, factual level, it is indisputably the case that when women are carrying the majority duties of bringing up young children they need to be more inventive than their male partners in programming their various work and home responsibilities."

At a cool factual level perhaps people should equally consider that a woman may be with a SAHD (or other Mum), employ a nanny, or juggle on an equal basis in every domestic and childcare issue with the child's father / her partner / whatever. And in that case, Jeremy, on a cool factual level, making an assumption that the woman in front of you is a woman who carries the majority of the duties and as he later says 'chooses' to do all the emergency runs to school when illness strikes, is quite simply prejudice.

On a cool factual level, unless you ask all candidates the same question , it is based in assumption and prejudice.

And using your column to openly support such prejudice just strengthens the complacent male club in which men in the workplace pressure female partners to pick up the childcare slack, and penalise other women for doing the same.

Disgraceful and shocking.

OP posts:
messyisthenewtidy · 07/05/2015 06:59

"How sick is your child?"

This was one of the questions put to me in one interview. Shock

Jackieharris · 07/05/2015 07:59

And putting this in the paper just encourages other employers to do the same?

thelastflame · 07/05/2015 15:00

My friend had an interview last week during which she was asked if she had childcare in place to cover the hours of the job. Fairly sure DH has never been asked a question like that at interview Angry

Blu · 08/05/2015 08:11

Let's see if they publish some clarity over the law in this week's column.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page