Monday, March 12, 2007

Discrimination??!!!

I am in-between jobs right now and have been attending interviews here and there...I am appalled at the kind of questions people ask, in their 'so called' rounds. In on of the interviews,she introduces herself as someone from recruitments, and chats me up for some time. I have an affable smile on my face and speak to her as cordially as possible. .....And then she goes, " So you have been married for 4 years now, so you will be keen to start a family, when do you plan to have a baby?? You know how girls are nowadays, either they get married or get pregnant...so are you going to tell me you are pregnant next month??".I want to scream out "That's none of your business!!!!" I dont want her to think i am insane or hysterical, so with great difficulty and a straight face, I try to smile and say "Dont you think you are getting too personal?" Dont get me wrong, am not being presumptuous here. I do understand that women have such personal commitments, and it can get difficult for the company to go through the whole recruitment rigamarole...but that doesnt mean you have the right to ask me blatant personal questions, and trivialise motherhood. Would you stay single and devote yourself to your current job for the rest of your life? If you would do that, its up to you...do what you want..rather, get a life!! :D ( btw, this topic alone continued for about 20 minutes...she asked me the same question in different ways!!!) This company works on saturdays, something I was not comfortable with...coz I have never worked on Saturdays so far...and will need to do a lot of adjusting in my personal life. So I had asked them if they are flexible about saturdays and if there is an option of working from home. This was something I had asked in the earlier round, so in the final round, one of the questions, the lady asks is that " You dont seem to be comfortable working on saturdays, so how can I be assured of 100 % commitment from you....wont you be thinking about your husband?" I wanted to laugh out loud. But I calmly answered that all of us are mature enough to balance our personal and professional lives well. Considering, I decide to take up this position, I am well aware of the Saturday-working part and would give my 100 % and work accordingly. ( I was thinking to myself, so does that mean that I wont think about my husband on other days!! Are you lost for a topic, or are you really being serious?? :D) A friend of mine was telling me that married women have been asked to certify that they are not pregnant at the time of joining their company. WHOA!!!!!! I am not a feminist in any sense, but what do you mean???? Single women will get married some time, married women will have kids sometime....does it mean it is the end of the world, in terms of their career?? It is a natural progression and even you wouldnt be here if your mom thought so! So quit being so silly and create an enviroment that truly provides fair and equal opportunity to both men as well as women. People are very funny and I am not really amused. I really hope I dont have to go through even more interesting conversations further...

BTW, I did'nt get that job, but I am joining somewhere else in a couple of days!! :-)

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