Is discrimination against women in job applications a myth?

Question

http://www.onrec.com/newsstories/6346.asp

Answer 1

A pregnant job applicant is like a male employee announcing on the interview that he is going to take a year off in paid leave.

Answer 2

I think it's ridiculous to assume that every employer in America is 100% fair to its applicants. There will always be wrongdoing.

Answer 3

In this day and age in the western world, yes, it is a left over from past times to gain more and more power.

Answer 4

there are laws to prevent that, i am black and i would be a liar if i said that opportunities are denied to me because of race, there are laws protecting mnorities and women now that didn't exist years ago, the opportunities are there it is up to us to make the best of them, and an opinion poll can easily be manipulated to fit any one's opinion, a few months ago the internet was flodded with polls that claimed ron paul was leading in the primaries and was going to win the nomination....and where's he now?

Answer 5

The same businesses are going to wonder, 25 years from now, why they can't recruit any good workers. Turns out, back when the workers of 2033 should have been born, women couldn't afford to have them.

Answer 6

Yes. Its an ONLINE opinion poll where all women who "thought = FELT" they were denied jobs because they were of childbearing age voted to prove it.  The writer is male, ofc.

*Edited*

*Edited2*

Edit to Mudkip : The link in the question talks about the "possibility" of women of childbearing age facing discrimination. Your link talks about a old wannabe CEO losing her job because the BoD lost confidence in her. How do they relate?

Answer 7

No.

Answer 8

Since things go around in a circle , its very likekly,that in years to come many women just will not go to work.

there wont be enough jobs for men and women, and so the guys will get paid a little more to compensate , but it will always be of corse, not enough.

So it may be, that just as these laws were starting to get close to some kind of equality.........back we go again

Slightly different,  but here we go again..........sorry guys just had a little Dajavu into the future.

Answer 9

Polling people is a very poor way to get reliable and accurate information, since people can lie and/or not being honest about how they feel. Plus, poll can easily be manipulated to suilt certain agenda.

Things like "unequal pay" and "glass ceilings" are a bunch of bull.  Relevant factors like length of time in the workplace, education, occupation, and number of hours worked per week etc..etc.. have far more to do with it than "discrimination".

Answer 10

I was reading through an old magazine from the 80s and there was an advertisement for a pregnancy test-- marketed toward EMPLOYERS. The text read "If you're going to hire her... better make sure she's not pregnant!"

It's certainly not as overt now, but the same mentality is definitely still there.

EDIT:

Also: http://nymag.com/news/business/46476/

Answer 11

it is a myth alright.. the discriminations are more against men

(i just have to disagree, see?)

Answer 12

There's also discrimination against older women, especially those who stayed home for years to raise a family. They're often seen as being "too old", "too set in their ways", "too inflexible", and not being committed enough to their jobs. Then there's also the issue of retirement. Many assume that people will automatically retire when they reach their mid-60s so why bother hiring older people when they will be gone in a few years?

Answer 13

It certainly does happen and it's understandable. If I was an employer and didn't risk the prospect of facing litigation, I would certainly discriminate against women of child-bearing age. Who wants to employ someone who could potentially leave the workforce to have children, any where between 3-12 months, where you, the employer, would be obliged by law to pay them for their choices over a fixed period (maternity leave)?

Just my two cents.

Answer 14

No.

But its not wrong either.

For instance, consider the case of female doctors in the UK. Most are retiring after ten years. A business that hires employees that will stay for longer will out-compete a similar business that doesn't. Statistically, the men will stay longer. Thus, we can't hold it against employers for "discriminating" against women, they are just looking after their future.

Re: Sam

I'm having trouble locating the one retirement study. If I was on my campus I could access I could use my university login to search through the studies.

Here is an excerpt from one article a researcher wrote

"...Women doctors concentrate in a few specialties regarded as family friendly (for example, primary care4 and psychiatry5) and tend not to take up some specialties such as surgery.4 This unequal distribution means that some specialties feel the implications of part time working and maternity leave, such as lack of continuity of care and resource use disproportionately.

Female doctors are more likely to work part time than their male colleagues.6 Despite many years of feminist discourse society still expects women rather than men to reduce work commitments to look after children and not to return to full time work until the children are older. However, research among general practitioners has shown that many women in their 50s, when their children are relatively independent, continue to work part time, often because of other caring demands.7 8 In addition, more female general practitioners plan to retire before the age of 60 than men, shortening their working life further.7 In psychiatry, one study found that nearly twice as many female consultants (41%) as male planned to finish work on or before their 55th birthday.9 Fewer women than men choose to work out of hours,8 and the increase in women doctors may have partly influenced the recent abdication of out of hours work by general practitioners in the UK. Although some research suggests that younger male doctors are also seeking part time careers,10 there is little evidence that they are actually opting for this lifestyle..."

With citations here:

References

   1. Burton KR, Wong IK. A force to contend with: the gender gap closes in Canadian medical schools. CMAJ 2004;170:1385-6.[Free Full Text]

   2. Barzansky B, Etzel SI. Medical schools in the United States, 2006-2007. JAMA 2007;298:1071-7.[Free Full Text]

   3. BMA Board of Medical Education. The demography of medical schools: a discussion document. London: BMA, 2004.

   4. Lambert TW, Goldacre MJ, Turner G. Career choices of United Kingdom medical graduates of 1999 and 2000: questionnaire surveys. BMJ 2003;326:194-5.[Free Full Text]

   5. Goldacre M, Turner G, Fazel S, Lambert T. Career choices for psychiatry: national surveys of graduates of 1974-2000 from UK medical schools. Br J Psychiatry 2005;186:158-64.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

   6. Davidson JM, Lambert TW, Goldacre MJ. Career pathways and destinations 18 years on among doctors who qualified in the United Kingdom in 1977: postal questionnaire survey. BMJ 1998;317:1425-8.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

   7. McKinstry B, Colthart I, Elliott K, Hunter C. The feminization of the medical work force, implications for Scottish primary care: a survey of Scottish general practitioners BMC Health Serv Res 2006;6:56.[CrossRef][Medline]

   8. Gravelle H, Hole A. The work hours of general practitioners: survey of English GPs. Br J Gen Pract 2007;57:96-100.[ISI][Medline]

   9. Eagles JM, Addie K, Brown T. Retirement intentions of consultant psychiatrists. Psychiatric Bull 2005;29:374-6.[CrossRef]

  10. Mather H. Specialist registrars’ plans for working part time as consultants in medical specialties: questionnaire study. BMJ 2001;322:1578-9.[Free Full Text]

  11. Royal College of General Practitioners. Key demographic statistics from UK general practice 2006. www.rcgp.org.uk/pdf/ISS_FACT_06_KeyStats...

  12. Carr PL, Ash AS, Friedman RH, Scaramucci A, Barnett RC, Szalacha L, et al. Relation of family responsibilities and gender to the productivity and career satisfaction of medical faculty. Ann Intern Med 1998;129:532-8.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

  13. Kilminster S, Downes J, Gough B, Murdoch-Eaton D, Roberts T. Women in medicine –is there a problem? A literature review of the changing gender, structures and occupational cultures in medicine. Med Educ 2007;41:39-49.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]

  14. Roter DL, Hall JA, Aoki Y. Physician gender effects in medical communication: a meta-analytic review. JAMA 2002;288:756-64.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

  15. Rossdale M, Kemple T, Payne S, Calnan M, Greenwood R. An observational study of variation in general practitioners’ out-of-hours emergency referrals. Br J Gen Pract 2007;57:152-4.[ISI][Medline]

  16. Bloor K, Freemantle N, Maynard A. Gender and variation in activity rates of hospital consultants. J R Soc Med 2008;101:27-33.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Cheers

Answer 15

Nope. People used to ask women all the time if they were pregnant or if they planned on having families so the company could weed out the ones they thought would need extra time off to look after children or use maternity leave.

To ensure people weren't discriminated against when applying for a job and during the interview, a set of "illgegal questions" was established and you can actually report a company that asks you any of these. Included are your age, date of graduation, etc.

Shady businesses (and some times not so shady ones) ask these questions all the time because so many people don't know that they are established. Women are answering these questions and being discriminated against, whether intentionally or not. No, discrimination against women is not a myth. It's in our collective agreement and it's Labour Law that these illegal questions aren't asked.

Don't think that women are alone in answering questions that get them discriminated. My boyfriend works labour jobs and he is always asked what he might use a benefit package for. His employers constantly  hint at the possibility of him marrying in the future or having an accident (he likes extreme sports) and the companies openly discriminate against him and what he might potentially need benefits for. These questions are illegal and can get businesses in a lot of c**p - whether they are labour jobs, office jobs or otherwise.

"Examples of Illegal Questions:

Are you married or do you have a permanent partner?

With whom do you live?

How many children do you have?

Are you pregnant?

Do you expect to become have

a family? When?

How many children will you have?

What are your child care arrangements"