Mothers Should Lie About Being Moms During Job Interviews

business woman
business woman

Would youlie about being a mother in order to get a jobin this economy? A down economy is hurting a lot of families. There area lot of unemployed peopleout there anda lot of those people are moms. A new study, which looked at the outcomes for laid-off workers across the United States, found that married women with kids, moms just like you and me, spent more time in between jobs than married dads. Why you ask?

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Employers see women who have children as a liability because they might put their children first. *Gasp* Isn't that exactly what people are supposed to do? Put their children first. Isn't that the first line of the new parent handbook?

So how do moms get around being penalized for being mothers by potential employers? Simple, we don't disclose it in the interview. Legally an employer can't ask if you have children or if you are pregnant. Of course, if you are nine months along, there's no purse in the world that is going to be able to hide that. I say we take the don't ask, don't tell offense.

Why should women disclose the information that we have little people that we love more than any job if it's only going to result in discrimination? If I'm going to be judged by an employer for being a mommy rather than my merits as a worker, then I'd rather just take my family out of the hiring equation. When my kids need me, I will just take my personal days.

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For the record, I think this is bullshit. Why should I have to lie about my role as a mother to get a job? I shouldn't, but this is the world we live in. It's not my dependability or skill level as a worker that is in question. The issue employers have is that mothers have an obligation to the children that they brought into the world, an innate sense of loyalty and love that cannot ever be trumped by a career. Employers fear moms won't be as committed or available to their job as their dad counterparts.

Sure a career is important to us. We go to college just like dads. We work hard to build our careers and we love what we do. We just love our kids more. By the way, if you ask most dads, I'm sure they love their kids more than their jobs too. But no one ever asks them.

A mom might need more flexibility in her schedule than someone who doesn't have children. Our children are the priority, but the same skills that make us great mothers (driven, caring, organized multitaskers, skilled in time management, able to coordinate schedules, and oversee many different personalities) will make us assets in any work place.

Would you lie about being a mother in order to get the job?

Image via Victor 1558/Flickr



Written by Deborah Cruz on CafeMom's blog, The Stir.

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