A few weeks ago I talked about a job I didn’t get because I was pregnant. According to the Enquirer, some employers see working women as “less reliable, focused and committed than their co-workers, and weed them out of job interviews or bypass them for promotions.” It’s just crazy that in 2008 there is still a bias against working moms.

I think I’ve been pretty lucky. I’ve only had a couple of instances where I felt like I was being discriminated against by because I am a working mom. Both of these were at my current company.

When I was pregnant with my twins I had a really nasty manager. She was actually out on maternity the first few months of my pregnancy, so you’d think she would have been sympathetic. But you would be wrong. Instead she was a bitch. I was never given any special projects, even though I volunteered often, because I “might go out on maternity leave early.” She was also very picky about my time. It got to the point where I kept a Lotus spreadsheet of my sick and vacation time plus my leave time and the reasons I was out. I even graphed it (because I’m a total geek like that).

Shortly after I got back from maternity leave she left for another position within the company. I was so thrilled. Then I had my first one-on-one with my new manager. She told me I had a “bad reputation” regarding my time and such. I was stunned. I walked out of the meeting completely speechless. Within ten minutes I called my manager and told her we needed to do that meeting over again. We scheduled a meeting for the next day. I gathered all of my evidence and was ready when I walked in to the conference room. She apologized and everything was good. In fact within a few month my new manager and I got along great and she made it clear that she thought I was a great asset to her team.

A few years later Caleb was born. I’ve mentioned before that Caleb was born with a cleft lip. I took eight weeks off for maternity leave. Then I was back at work for about three weeks before I was out again for his surgery. When I came back from maternity leave my manager told me she wanted to give me this really big account. But since I was going to be out again in just a couple weeks and out for four weeks she didn’t want to give it to me. Instead she gave it to another guy on my team. I was pretty pissed about it. It would have been a great opportunity for me and I felt like I was passed up because of my family. However, I also wasn’t willing to give up time with my newborn for this big account. So I sucked it up.

Less than a year later the guy who got the big account took another job. And I got the big account. So it all worked out in the end.

When I was interviewing for the job I have now I mentioned that I had five kids. I’m not sure how it came up because I normally don’t talk family in interviews. But in this case I did. In the course of the conversation I mentioned that my husband was a stay-at-home dad. Her husband was also a stay-at-home dad. That connection helped me get the job.

For me, I figure if somebody doesn’t want to hire me because I’m a working mom then I don’t want to work for them anyway. As I’ve said before, I require a job that allows me some flexibility to go to my kids school parties and sporting events. That doesn’t mean I’m not a good worker. In fact I’m a better worker because I have that flexibility. Companies need to start realize the potential of the super mom.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 10:55 pm and is filed under Working Wednesday. Comments are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.