SaxInTheCity's Blog

I had never heard the term "maternal profiling" until a short time ago when I came across an article about it. The more I read, the more I thought to myself, "Wow, I bet that DOES happen more than most people--most women especially, even realize."

Maternal profiling essentially refers to a woman--a MOM--being denied a job or a promotion based solely or mainly on the fact that her potential employer or boss thinks she won't be able to (or be unwilling to) commit fully to the job because of her other responsibilities as a mother (or expectant mother, or future mother, whatever the case might be.) As you'll learn in the story below (aired 9/2/08), it's hard to prove one has been discriminated against for this reason EVEN if the employer comes right out and tells a woman that's why she didn't get the job. Turns out that even though there are local, county and state ordinances in place throughout Illinois that prevent this type of profiling, it's still not technially illegal to utter the words to a job applicant in an interview; "Do you have kids?"

Now, I can actually see (OK, don't stone me, moms) how an employer might WANT to maternally profile. I mean, he or she might say to themselves, "Gosh, with three little ones at home, how ever will Ms. Jones be able to give 100 and 10 percent to the extreme demands of widget making here at WIdget Inc.?! She will surely be calling in sick herself whenever one of her kids is ill, be unable to work late or on weekends when needed, refuse to bring extra work home, and will undoubtedly have her mind elsewhere if one of the tykes is being bullied at school, has lost a tooth or swallowed a marble! I think I'm going to go with Miss Smith instead. She's got no kids at home and seems much more  career-driven. Or better yet, how about MR. Johnson! He's a father but we all know moms do most of the child caretaking any way. HE won't be missing work for any of that kiddie stuff...")

Ok, so it's sexist. I'm not saying I personally think that way. (Trust me, I DON'T.) I just think some employers might try to get away with it--and do! As the son of a working single mom, I saw first-hand how she was able to multi-task on a daily basis. Frankly, I don't know HOW she did it! The moms profiled in this story assure us that they can do it all, as well.