Maybe Baby?
Yet ANOTHER childfree stigma
“It doesn’t matter if you want children or not, these biases will be applied to you.”
Have you heard of the “maybe baby bias”?
It’s a fresh new take on the classic myth that all women are mothers-in-waiting, one that shows up in the workplace.
Essentially, employers are less likely to hire childfree women of childbearing age, because they don’t want to bear the costs associated with their inevitable pregnancy. Yet again, people cannot fathom that a woman simply doesn’t want kids, and – yet again – this myth is wielded against her 😡
I learned the word for this specific stigma from the great Stylist article, “Women without children are still facing a ‘motherhood penalty’ at work”. The studies it cites are shocking, including research that found married childfree women in their 30s were less likely to be called for part-time positions than almost any other female group 🙄
This all sounded familiar, and then I remembered where I’d heard it before – our own portrait of Monica in Berlin! So what do you do when anti-discrimination laws forbid you from discussing your reproductive status with potential employers, who still assume you’re only in it for the parental leave? Monica has an ingenious solution 💡
Still, like Monica says, “It doesn’t matter if you want children or not, these biases will be applied to you.” That’s why we’re helping companies to create truly inclusive workplaces for childfree and childless folks, so parents and non-parents can work better together.
If you’re interested in our mission, follow We are Childfree on LinkedIn for insights and updates. Hopefully we can smash this “maybe baby bias” for good! 💥
